



■BUM, 

• '■■:.;■.::... 



AN OUTLINE 

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNT!, 



WITH AN 



ENUMERATION OF THE NAMES 



OF ITS 



TOWNS, VILLAGES, RIVERS, CREEKS, 

LAKES, PONDS, MOUNTAINS, HILLS AND 

» 

OTHER KNOWN LOCALITIES, 



AND THEIR 

ETYMOLOGIES OR HISTORICAL REASONS THEREFOR; 

, TOGETHER WITH 

LOCAL TRADITIONS 

AND SHORT 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 

OF 

EARLY SETTLERS, ETC. 
BY SAM'L W. EAGER, ESQ., 

UKMBER OF THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OP NEWBURQH, AND 

CORHE8PO.NUINO MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

or THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 



NEWBURGH: 
S. T. CALLAHAN, 

1846-7. 




INDEX. 

Preface, Page 3 

Introduction, 5 

General View of the County, 18 

Indians, 30 

Settlement of Orange County > 42 

Roads and Turnpikes, 52 

Agricultural Society, 58 

Mastodon, 71 

Newburgh, 81 

Montgomery,. 230 

Crawford, 332 

Walk ill, 345 

Deerpark and Mount Hope,. 361 

Mount Hope, 399 

Minisink, 406 / 

Warwick, 421 

Goshen, Hamptonburgh and Chester, 443 

Goshen, 502 

Hamptonburgh. 511 

Chester, 516 

Bloom inggrove, Cornwall and Monroe, 523 

Bloom inggrove, 535 

Monroe, 550 

Cornwall, 571 

New- Windsor, 608 

To the Reader, 643 

Appendix, 645 

Errata. 652 



PREFACE. 



The following Paper was in part prepared to be read before the Historical 
Association of Newburgh, and a small portion of it was actually read before 
that body last spring ; since which the residue has been written, and, at re- 
quest, permitted publication. The nature and general scope of the Paper 
will more particularly appear from the Introduction. It was undertaken 
partly out of curiosity, and partly for amusement, to learn what things, in- 
teresting of the kind, could be found located in the County, worth recording. 
Since began, it has increased in size on our hands, and we now find it, both 
in contents and magnitude, a very different article from what it was origin- 
ally intended to be, and so disposed to grow up and expand — perhaps not in 
real interest, yet in other ways — that we hasten to get rid of it, and give it 
another paternity, lest it become too varied in contents and too cumbersome 
in detail, to manage with convenience to ourselves or justice to the subjects 
treated of. We confess the subject, has failed in fruitfulness and disappoint- 
ed our expectations, especially in local tradition. There are, perhaps, many 
in the county worthy of rescue from oblivion ; but we cannot afford to spend 
the time and money necessary to visit the individuals in possession of them, 
scattered as they are in every town. We take to ourselves no special cred- 
it for the hasty and fugitive contents, prepared at leisure moments in our 
office, in the course of a few months, costing no great expenditure of time 
or talent. That it is defective, barren, and devoid of interest to the old and 
well-informed citizen, and could have been far better executed by hundreds 
in our County, had they deemed the same worthy of their leisure moments, 
we are fully assured. Such, we trust, may hereafter adventure upon the 
enquiry, and if the present Paper shall lay a foundation in any way, for a 
future effort, on an enlarged plan, we shall be gratified and receive our re- 
ward. At present we are contented to commit our bantling to the public 
alms-house of the people, where, if it be not cherished with greater indul- 
gence than it has received from its author, its destiny is already determined. 
What the judgment may be, we will not anticipate farther than to state that 
many great and capacious minds may say the contents are worthless, and 
our time misspent. If this be all we ate prepared for it, and may survive 
the shock, under the mental satisfaction that we have done something, small 
indeed, connected with the objects of the Association, added ten fold to our 
stock of information, respecting the numerous localities of the county, and 
saved time for the purpose, redeemed from idle gossip along street, about 
the News, Texas, Oregon, James K. Polk, the Mexican and Tariff wars. — 
To all disposed to find fault, (their name is legion,) we say, be not so intent 
on our errors and defective execution, as to be forgetful of your own. We 
claim the most lenient judgment, for it is one hundred to one, we may never 
a°;ain be guilty of perpetrating an act like this. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Every work, from Sinbad the Sailor to a British Classic, 
has, or ought to have, an Introduction — establishing its pro- 
priety and necessity, and explaining in some good degree its 
nature and design, particular and general. It is a point a- 
bout which there is a kind of joyous public expectation, neces- 
sary to gratify and indulge, dangerous to disappoint, lest the 
omission materially injure the work itself. Generally 
speaking, the world is not over friendly to any one in par- 
ticular, and we may safely mark it down, in deep black 
lines, as hostile to and careless of our acquaintance. When 
we address it, therefore, for our own or the benefit of others, 
common courtesy would seem to demand that we speak to it 
in the kindest terms, pat it on the head as we would a vicious 
and untamed animal, tell who we are, what we want and 
are in quest of, and what favors we expect of it. The pub- 
lic, like a private gentleman, expects a letter of introduction, 
before it will make our acquaintance and regard us kindly. 
Indeed, you might as soon expect to see a man during a clear 
day without his shadow, or Don Quixotte appear publicly in 
the streets without being preceded by his Esquire Sancho, as 
to see a grave and learned work on Etymology, and the his- 
torical reasons for names, thrown carelessly upon the public- 
notice without a well digested and befitting Introduction. — 
The omission would prove a careless disregard of popular fa- 
vor, sentiment, and expectation. To this all important de- 
partment, as it concerns the future welfare of our Paper, we 
now proceed ; and when manipulated to our satisfaction, 
will adventure upon the more laborious and difficult task of 
executing the work itself. It is said that ivestigation begets 
a thirst for investigation, and that we aie happily so constitu- 
ted that labor makes labor more pleasant and agreeable. The 
truth of this principle we will endeavor to establish, or prove 
its antiquated fallacy, by a reasonable devotion of our time 
and labor. 

We have heard the sentiment advanced and advocated, 
that it requires more tact and mental effort to write an Intro- 
duction, than the work. Not knowing its truth by acinnl 
experience, we neither affirm nor deny it. We know that 
nothing is more common in the literary world, into which 



b INTRODUCTION. 

we now seek admission, than for one individual to write the 
book, and another greater man, and more favorably known 
to the reading public, to write the Introduction. Unquestion- 
ably there are some advantages in this : the work is the joint 
production of two authors, whose aggregate knowledge is 
greater than that of either, and the Introduction precedes the 
main body of the matter discussed, like a well-trained band 
of music, at the head of an army of reserve. No doubt an 
Introduction, if executed with skill and judgment, and not 
too lavish in promises, furnishes not only a pleasant foretaste 
of the contents, but helps most marvelously to get up a sharp 
appetite to relish and devour the delicious food, so confident- 
ly assured and temptingly set forth. We speak in general 
terms, without allusion to any particular case, much less to 
the contents of our present paper ; for we intend to write 
both the introduction and the work, and to execute them 
equally well. In this our first effort for public favor, we are 
too verdant in literary imposition to hook our work on to 
another man's introduction, as a boy ties a tail on his kite to 
balance it, and gain temporary influence ; and therefore in 
due time, here publicly protest and insist, not for the purpose 
of influencing the judgment of any reader, or winning one 
golden opinion, that the whole work will be so identical and 
unique, as to preclude the idea of a possible joint authorship. 

The learning and discoveries of other men are but common 
pebbles which thickly strew the path of every investigation, 
many of which are worn smooth by the frequent manipula- 
tions and re-settings of inferior authors ; but that which is 
made or discovered by ourselves is the true diamond — the 
priceless jewel of literary fame — to find and secure which 
ought to be the aim of every one. Borne, then, upward and 
onward, by the difficulties and exciting nature of the subject, 
and cheered by the free and gracious approval of co-laborers 
around us, we leave these general topics of remark, and call 
attention to those particular subjects, in which more immedi- 
ately lie the interest and vitality of our paper. 

Every person is under high obligation to regard and care 
for his own character and reputation, and be ready at all 
times to justify and defend them. Accordingly, lest any un- 
warrantable inference be drawn from the contents of this pa- 
per, injurious to the character of the writer, we protest in ad- 
vance that heretofore we have not been in the habit of slan- 
dering any one, nor calling things out of their proper names, 
nor even of speculating too freely upon them, whether good 
or bad, pleasant or disagreeable, common or peculiar. Yet, 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

as every new position in society places us in a crisis of some 
kind, and brings with it new duties, offices and responsibili- 
ties, which not unfrequently educe, and by necessity rather 
than election, exhibit new capabilities and traits of character, 
we are compelled to-night, at the hazard of being deemed 
mendacious, intrusive, impertinent, perhaps personal, to call 
all kinds of hard, soft and queer names, whether they be 
Saxon, Dutch, Irish, English, French, Indian or American, 
single or compound. In some cases, where names do not 
rest on such broad and legitimate basis, and are drawn from 
less approved and warrantable sources, perhaps creatures 
only of fancy, of the most lively and luxuriant character, we 
may be compelled from the nature of the case, and our pre- 
sent undertaking, to challenge them and question their pro- 
priety. On the other hand, when found natural, easy and 
appropriate, we shall not withhold the meed of approbation. 
Our motto is — give praise where it is due, and set down 
nothing with a malicious motive. 

All this we should never have thought of doing, especially 
we should not have been compelled to do, nor even submitted 
to such a dangerous task of doubtful character, if we had not 
been elected a member of this hunting, fishing, Paul Pry 
Association of busy bodies, who deem nothing too sanctified 
by time or popular approbation to escape their inquisitive and 
intermeddling judgment. But such is the danger and res- 
ponsibility of station, and we assume to discharge it in its 
most personal character. 

This exercise, therefore, being based upon the requirements 
of the Association, if not executed by its direct authority, we 
cherish the consolation that we shall be most manfully backed 
up by the members, inividually and collectively. They 
share the honors of the achievement, if there be any, and 
justice and equity demand of them to divide the odium and 
ill will incurred by the effort. Not only so, but in cases of 
doubtful interpretation or authority, they are expected to vol- 
unteer their own cultivated inquisatorial powers, and freely 
discuss names of every import and character, though it may 
subject them to actions for defamation or scandalum magna- 
tum, in favor of the time honored localities and moss-covered 
names of the county. With this understanding, to be ful- 
filled in good faith, we enter upon the work of doubt and 
uncertainty, consoled and cheered as we proceed, by the re- 
flection that the great and controlling influence and authority 
of this Historical Association will confirm all that is found 
doubtful in the public mind, and of the least questionable 



S INTRODUCTION. 

import, while it brings to light, and developes many new 
and interesting etymologies and historical reminiscences — 
real tit-bits to the learned in this department. 

It is remarkable, as a general rule, how long an original 
name will be preserved and kept alive. Circumstances may 
change, improvements may be made, new business may be 
established and conducted, covering up and wholly oblitera- 
ting the original reason for the appellation, rendering it in- 
appropriate and unmeaning — still it never changes. It clings 
to the locality, and haunts it by a daily and yearly renova- 
tion, till the place can no more get rid of it, than it can re- 
treat from storm or sunshine. This will be so, irrespective of 
the fact whether it is good or bad, appropriate or improper, 
pleasant or disagreeable. This fact is an admonition to all, 
of having a bad name at any time ; for one hundred to one, 
it will follow us through the remainder of life, and only die, 
if it ever dies, when we go down to the grave. Its odor so 
impinges itself upon the owner, and upon the sensitive and 
predisposed popular mind, that we can no more escape its 
deadly influence than we can the effects of original sin. 

We will give an example of this, and which, at the same 
time, will show what a trifling circumstance will bestow a 
permanent name. One of the colleges at Oxford is called 
" the Brazen Nose College," and has been known as such 
since its foundation in 1509 — 337 years since. The following 
was the origin of this ludicrous and whimsical name : this 
college was built upon the foundation of two halls or inns, 
and on the gate leading to one of them was an iron ring in 
a nose of brass on the knocker. For a little while before the 
erection of the college, some of the students had their quar- 
ters in the old buildings, and in sport called it the Brazen Nose 
College, which name attached to the newedificewhenereeted. 

If the future historian of Orange County is expected to in- 
form our descendents, the future public — more anxious than 
we, we trust, on the subject — of the true meaning of the names 
of places, rivers, mountains, etc., within her boundaries, or 
the accidental reason of them, it is full time that some one 
was busily and astutely engaged in the desired work. For 
if they are not soon placed upon some durable record, and 
before the knowledge of the present inhabitants shall slumber 
with them in the grave, and be lost forever ; or before un- 
certain tradition shall changs and mar their meaning by an 
ever varying and fanciful glossary, the most interesting por- 
tion will have passed from our memories, where now alone it 
is found treasured up and useless. 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

By this paper — for the purpose effectual as the marble 
slab or brazen tablet — safely deposited in your archives, we 
begin the work ; and intend as far as gleaning - and dragging 
the county will accomplish it, to garner up our county names 
from the corroding power of time, and rescue them from ob- 
livion. We intend thus to keep and cherish them, for the 
pleasure and edification of those who shall come after us, in 
these fair regions of descending day, this land of milk and 
honey, of waving corn and lowing herds, of babbling brook 
and majestic river, of valley, hill and towering mountain. — 
In general, we are well pleased with the names by which the 
several features and various localities of om county are known 
at present, and in the spirit of pure patriotism, for old acquain- 
tance sake, we ardently desire to preserve them, in all their 
pristine verdure of appropriate and express meaning. 

With stealthy steps and maiden weakness, civilization and 
false refinement may seek to fritter away their strength, or 
corrupt their meaning, and we wish in time to transfer them 
to an undying tablet before such event shall come. Already 
Ave have Mount Basha corrupted into Mombasha, Duck Cedar 
into Truxedo, Grey Coat into Grey Court, Carr Pond into 
Garr Pond, Peakadasank into Pekonasink, Pallapel into Pol- 
lopel — with many others. These corruptions slowly and 
artfully made, will finally change and alter the original 
meaning, as certainly as moral corruption changes and ruins 
men, states, and kingdoms. 

In some instances, they remind us of the calculating and 
hardy adventures of our ancestors in leaving the fat lands of 
Holland, the Emerald fields of Erin, and the still richer glades 
of Albion, to risk their lives and little all upon a deceitful 
and trackless ocean, and establish themselves and live upon 
the borders of a dense and unbroken wilderness, and sleep 
with wife and children beside the scalping knife and gleam- 
ing tomahawk. In other instances, they read us a lesson of 
rude justice, or of bitter injustice, as the case may be, as we 
ponder sadly and mournfully on the name of some red war- 
rior of his forest home, now gone to his great spirit ; or upon 
some mighty and terrible aboriginal nation, once owners of 
these lands we celebrate, love and call our own, now swept 
from the face of the earth ; but before departing, baptised us 
with their own enduring and euphonious names as a portion 
of their own and our history. What changes are brought 
about in human affairs in the brief period of a single century ! 
Less than that time has been sufficient to depopulate this 
county of its Indian inhabitants, where many thousands not 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

long since dwelt and wandered lords of the soil we now ten- 
ant ; and there is not to-day one living specimen of their race 
to rehearse the short story of their eventful lives. Nation 
tramples down nation, as one individual crushes another to 
the earth, apparently regardless of national rights, and the 
ever enduring principles of justice and humanity. In the 
case before us, we wait the unerring judgment of the muse 
of history, who now, seated aloft beyond the excitements and 
prejudices of the day, is preparing her deathless record of 
national injustice and Indian wrong. 

As before remarked, a durable and explanatory record of 
the names of places, &c, such as we propose and now at- 
tempt to make, may save our descendents from groping their 
way in a kind of uncertain twilight, if not in many cases 
from a fanciful guess-work. Its propriety and literary ben- 
efit, as far as entitled to that character, may be rendered 
somewhat apparent by citing a case from English history. — 
We name the city of York; — this is said to have been a town 
before the Roman invasion, if a collection of huts in a spot 
cleared out of the forest may be called so. It is thought by 
some, that the place derived its name from the river on the 
banks of which it stood. This river is now called the Ouse 
or Oose, anciently called the Oure or Oore, and the sound 
of York is thought to be present in the Latinised form of the 
word, Eb-or-acum. The Orac of Eb-or-acum is, therefore, 
according to English etymology, the origin of the name of 
modern York! 

This process of arriving at the result wished for, is certain- 
ly quite ingenious. It hacks out the middle of the word, by 
no rule of the literary shambles we are acquainted with, and 
throws the two ends away, as offal. It is the best perhaps 
the case at this day admits of. By way of argument in favor 
of our present timely effort, we cannot resist the temptation 
of giving another example. We name the city of Rochester, 
England. This is also said to have been a town before the 
Roman conquest of that Island. It was originally called 
Dourbryf, which, in the Saxon, signifies swift river, in allu- 
sion to the rapid current of the Medivay, on the banks of 
which it stood. The Romans, not content with the rough- 
ness of the sound, smoothed down the prominent angles and 
called it Durobrovis and Durobrovum. The Saxons, in turn, 
not content with the length, shortened it into Hroffe — this, 
with the addition of C easier, the Saxon word for city or castle, 
the same as the Latin castrum for camp, together made 
Hroffe-ceaster , the immediate parent of Rochester. The ad- 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

dition of the Saxon word ceaster, meaning castle, city or camp, 
to those places which had been Roman military stations, was 
very common. Thus it is, you have the English names of 
Leicester, Doncaster, Winchester, and others ending in Chester, 
all of them having beem Roman stations or camps while 
they held the country. The name of a place thus formed, 
as far as we know, is first mentioned in Hume's England, at 
page 15, vol. 1, chap. 1, speaking of the war between the 
Britons and Saxons under iElla, their chief, he is said to have 
laid seige to Andrea-ceaster . This was in the beginning of 
the fifth century. The Romans abandoned England in 408 
of the Christian era, after holding military possession of the 
Island 400 years. 

The Saxon word Hroffe was afterwards Latinised into Roffa, 
whence the Bishop of Rochester takes his signature, Roffen- 
sis. Though all this may appear very natural and satisfac- 
tory to the learned in these matters, yet its truth and proba- 
bility have been questioned ; for Bede, who was as deeply 
steeped in such antiquarian lore as any other Englishman, 
says Rochester came from Rof or Rhof, tbe name of a man 
who was once lord of the city. To which if you'add the Sax- 
on ceaster, you have Rofceaster — in our opinion the most 
probable derivation. 

In our review it will be found that some places, without 
any known reason therefor, have had as many names as any 
convicted scamp in Sing Sing. What our ancestors knew as 
Mouse Pond, Machem's Pond, Big Pond, Bennin Water, we 
know in its more beautiful and ample dimensions as Orange 
Lake. Even towns are not free from suspicion, as far as the 
same may be inferred from a plurality of names. Smith's 
Clove, Cheesecock's, Soutbfield and Monroe, each in their 
turn have designated a large and respectable portion of the 
county. Moral principle, also, which truly and extensively 
prevailed among the early settlers, has not unfrequently 
stamped its reprobation upon a locality for the violation of 
her laws. But as men, from generation to generation, im- 
prove and elevate themselves to a higher moral standard, and 
better condition of things, it is but justice to change Jockey 
Hollow to the more pleasant but less descriptive New Milford. 
It would seem strange, indeed, in so large a county as Or- 
ange, with its numerous localities, and settled by emigrants 
from all parts of Europe, intelligent, witty, strong-minded, 
full of fun and frolick more or less, if we did not find, as we 
do in other counties, some odd and unaccountably queer 
names. Accordingly, Joge and Brimstone Hills, Skunk's 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

Misery, Honey Pot, Goosetown, Dans Kamraer, Purgatory, 
and a few more of the like, equally strong, hot, savory, odor- 
iferous and expressive names, save us from all reproach, and 
bring old Orange within the operation of the general rule. — 
In the antiquity and classic beauty of names the western 
counties of the State have eminently the advantage by travel- 
ing further up the stream of time ; for looking over them we 
would conclude they were settled by Greek and Roman colo- 
nies, or, as some funny wag has said, they must have been 
bestowed by a crazy pedagogue, from a catalogue carefully 
prepared beforehand for the purpose. A good name is cer- 
tainly without price, but we would not give a bit for a bushel 
of Greek and Roman ones in particular, for in this, as in other 
things, we prefer the domestic manufacture. 

The uncertainty which covers up with an impenetrable 
cloud the meaning of many English names, by which they 
are now so difficult to explain, is the combined result of the 
operation of time, conquest, and change of language. The 
first of these causes we are now endeavoring to anticipate, 
while we trust and desire to be saved harmless from the con- 
sequences of the other two ; and that, as long as we have the 
privilege to do so, when grown up to vigorous manhood, and 
become dissatisfied with our present infantile names, and 
wish to change them for those more beneficial, pleasant or 
appropriate, we will appeal directly to the voice of the peo- 
ple or legislative enactment. 

In our present etymological paper upon the names of places, 
etc., we shall not be able from pure domestic manufacture to 
produce any thing equal to, or that will compare with, the 
cases cited ; unless, as in those cases, we go abroad for them, 
which we may be compelled to do, as we have been liberal 
to prodigality in appropriating to our own localities the pro- 
per names of foreign places ; and that, too, in many cases, 
without either rhyme or reason for it. The truth is, we have 
drawn them without stint or measure from the vocabularies 
of ihe four quarters of the earth. 

Other States in the Union are equally guilty, for a writer 
on the vast multiplication of European and classic names for 
towns in the United States, remarks, that in all Europe there 
is but one London, whilst in this country we have five Londons, 
one New London, and seven Londonderrys. We have six 
towns called Paris, twenty-one Richmonds, sixteen Bedfords, 
nine Brightons, nine Chathams, eleven Burlingtons, sixteen 
Delawares, fourteen Oxfords, fourteen Somersets, nine Cam- 
bridges, twenty-five Yorks, and other English names in pro- 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

portion. We have three Dresdens, fourteen Berlins, twenty 
Hanovers, and four Viennas. All the cities of the East are 
multiplied a great many times, with the exception of Con- 
stantinople, in place of which we have Constantine. There 
are one hundred and eighteen towns called Washington ; 
there are ninety-one Jacksons, sixty-nine Jeffersons, fifty- 
eight Monroes, fifty Madisons, thirty-two Harrisons, nine- 
teen Adamses, sixteen Van Burens, twenty-one Clays, three 
Websters, and but one Tyler. Of Bentons, there are fourteen, 
Franklins, eighty-three, and Lafayettes, thirty-four. The 
popularity of an individual can hardly be inferred from the 
number of times his name occurs on the map. Clinton is 
multiplied twenty-seven times, Decatur nine times, and Perry 
one. The national habit of imitation is very strongly shown 
in our names. There are very few' that occur but once, and 
these are very peculiar. Small Pox, for instance, a town in 
Joe Davies county, Illinois, stands alone yet, or did when 
the census was taken ; so does the town of Jim Henry, Mil- 
ler county, Missouri ; but they will doubtless be multiplied 
before long. 

The practice of Latinizing names is sometimes truly ridi- 
culous, and is not to be encouraged, as it savors of learned 
pedantry. Take an example : the island of Jersey was call- 
ed Ccesarea by the Romans, in honor of Julius Ccesar, The 
State of New Jersey was named after the island of Jersey and 
never called Ccesarea, — yet the diplomas granted to the stu- 
dents — graduates at Nassau Hall — by the authority of col- 
lege, say they are granted to them by the Prceceptor et cura- 
tores in collegio Neo Ccesariensis — that is, in the college of 
New Jersey. What learned nonsense at this day, as far as 
New Jersey is concerned — for the island of Jersey had lost its 
name of Ccesarea centuries before New Jersey was known, 
or the continent discovered by Columbus. The same applies 
to New York. We admit that in a contract made by the 
Duke of York, 23rd June, 1664, with Lord Berkley and Sir 
George Cartoul, by which he sold to them a large part of 
New Jersey, declared the name to be Nova Ccesarea, or New 
Jersey ; yet we mean to say, this name was never generally 
applied in a popular form to the country, but remained dead 
upon the contract. 

We have said thus much partly by way of amusement, 
and partly for the purpose of impressing the truth strongly 
upon the attention of the Society, that our names, with their 
origin and meaning, ought to be firmly fixed and clearly es- 
tablished, before the lapse of time 6hall, in a hundred ways, 



14 INTRODUCTION- 

obscure and cover them by the mists of uncertainty, and the 
deeper clouds of learned fictions. The names cited are cases 
in point. 

We might here remark, that the great source of corrup- 
tions in the etymologies of names, both of places and men, 
consists in the natural propensity of mankind to substitute in 
the place of that which is obscure or difficult, a more common 
and notorious appellation, suggested and warranted by affin- 
ity of sound. 

The term Etymology includes the tracing of the different 
significations of a word, and shows how one proceeds from 
another, which is of great extent and difficulty; and though 
not well adapted for the amusement or instruction of all 
classes of readers, is curious and interesting. The history of 
some words would be more amusing than the lives of half 
the people found in our common biographies. 

In executing this paper, we will endeavor, as far as our 
knowledge oflocalities enables us, to enumerate, 

1st, The names of all places, Tillages, streams of water, 
mountains, hills, &c, in the county, under the head of the 
town in which they are located. 

2nd, The historical reasons, if any, why so named. 

3rd, The etymology of the name, and the tradition, if any, 
connected with the name or place. 

4th, Short biographical sketches of early settlers, &c. 

We shall be brief as possible, and not run out much into 
historical detail, as that might be an infringement upon some 
other department. In an historical point of view, we shall 
aim to state those things only which are of a domestic and 
local character, not found in print, resting wholly, or nearly 
so, in the memory of the present generation ; and thus chron- 
icle events somewhat below the dignity of history ; and 
which the historic muse in her most careless stroll along the 
track of time — richly strewed with flowers of every color, fra- 
grance and magnitude— would not deign to gather or weave 
into a garland. Doing this, we shall deal as little as possi- 
ble with fancv, and hold a tight reign on our imagination, 
indulging neither without apprising the reader we are spe- 
culating on the point. Any other course would be false and 
deceptive. In all candor, however, we are free to proclaim 
that we shall appropriate and impress into our service, as 
public property, all we read in books and newspapers, pick 
up in conversation along street, or find treasured in the mem- 
ory of our citizens, winch in any way may add interest or 
truthfulness to our paper. After this declaration of intent 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

and motive, we trust no one will charge us with a felonious 
appropriation of their worthless goods and chatties. We 
say worthless to them, but interesting and valuable to us, 
and without which, we do not well see how we could execute 
the object we have in view. All such claimants will be held 
in derision, for they must be content with the honor of having 
their fragments gathered up and spiead before the public, 
where they may be of some present and future benefit. We 
come in the character of a gleaner, with a rake in hand, and 
the bundles gathered up, give back to the people, for our ob- 
ject is of a public character and publicly executed. 

In conclusion, we must be permitted to remark, that never 
having thought on the subject till recently — possessing lit- 
tle information relative to the historical reasons for our coun- 
ty names and local traditions, and knowing absolutely no- 
thing of the Saxon, German and Indian languages, from 
which many are derived, we have small hopes of executing 
the task to our own satisfaction, or to the edification or amuse- 
ment of the Association. Nay, failure stares us in the face, 
and almost frightens us from the effort. No one will infer 
our ability from the tenor of our indroductory remarks, for 
we frankly confess that what is here said, calculated to leave 
such an impression, is said in jest only, and now in time, as 
danger comes up clearly in view, we make a virtue of neces- 
sity, openly confess our cowardice, and that we are not a 
strong man armed for the battle. We shall truly and ho- 
nestly, however, endeavor to do all that we can, to make it 
as perfect and correspondent with truth and fact as our infor- 
mation will warrant. The facts and statements will be made 
with the same belief of their truth that we would state them 
in a court of justice, when speaking of information derived 
from others. In many instances we may be in error from 
misconception and false information. Some things may be 
thrown in now and then to light up the sombre dulness of 
the subject, which some may think misplaced and undigni- 
fied ; but we trust they will receive what is said in the same 
temper and spirit in which they are proffered, separate the true 
from the false, fact from fiction, and smile only at our at- 
tempts at the light and frivolous. As an atonement for such 
offence, and that the dignity and historical reputation of the 
Association may be left unsullied in honor, and unimpeach- 
ed for want of true gravity and intelligence, we promise to 
expunge all such objectionable matter from our next edition, 
personally assuming the responsibility of this. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 



Orange County is quite ancient, and among the earliest 
organized in the State. It is said to have been organized in 
1683, by a law of the colony, which we have not been able 
to find in print, except in the appendix, page 6, of the Revi- 
sed Laws of 1813. It was one of those formed also by the: 
general act of organization in 1788, and contained the pre- 
sent county of Rockland, and described thereby as follows : 
" To beginne from the limitts or bounds of East and West 
Jersey on the west side of Hudson's River, along the said 
river to the Murderer's Creek, or bounds of the county of Ul- 
ster, and westward into the woods as far as Delaware River." 
According to this it contained all that part of the State south 
of an easterly and westerly line from the mouth of Murder 
er's creek to the Delaware River or northerly line of Penn- 
sylvania. It remained unaltered in boundaries till the acts 
of 1798, when the county of Rockland was set off from it, 
and five towns from Ulster added, which made it of its pre- 
sent dimensions. In the records of Albany there is said to 
be a law passed in April, 1699, directing that courts of Ses- 
sions and Pleas be held in Orange that year. This we pre- 
sume was not carried into operation for several years there- 
after ; for, according to the records in the Clerk's office in 
Goshen, which we have examined, the ordinance for keep- 
ing courts of Sessions and Pleas was granted on the 8th of 
March, 1702, at Fort Anne — present, his Excellency, Ed- 
ward Viscount Cornbury, Wm. Smith, Peter Schuyler, and 
Sa. Th. Boughton, Esqrs., of Council ; and the commissions 
to hold such courts of Sessions and Pleas was granted and 
signed April 5, 1703, by Queen Anne. Courts were first 
held in Goshen in 1727. 

Extracts from old court records — Page 46 of the first Court Record of 
Orange County, 8th Sessions of Orange Co., Oct. 29th, 1705, held at Or- 
angetown, Rockland — 

"• Upon ye presentment of Coonradt Hanson that George Jewell kept s 
dog which was injurious to many of the neighbors, it was ordered that the 
said Jewell should hang the said dog." 

This was the first capital punishment on record ifi the Coun- 
ty, and the court, by its decision, seemed to think there was 
no other way to kill a dog than by choking. 

B 



18 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

To give some idea of the amount of taxes under Queen 
Anne, we make an extract from the "memorandum " in the 

" Register kept for Orange County, begune ye 5th day of April], Ano. Dm. 
1703 :" 

That the Queen's tax is £22 1 

The 1-2 of the Clerk's salary 3 10 
Toward payment of a book 6 6 

Toward furnishing ye County Goal 2 10 

" pound for cattle 1 10 



To be levied in all , £30 6 6 

As the X has been the emblem of the Christian religion, 
it was formerly used in spelling the word Christian, as will 
be seen in the following extract from the deed executed by 
the Indian owners of the Minisink Patent, recorded in Re- 
cords of Deeds in Goshen : — 

" To all Xtian People to whom these presents shall come or may concern : 
Know yee that wee, Rapingonick, Wawastawaw, Moghopuck, Comelawaw, 
Nanawitt, Ariwimack, Rumbout, Clauss, Chouckhass, Chingapaw, Oshas- 
quemonus, and Quilapaw, native Indians," &c. 

The Indians made each a different mark. The six white 
witnesses also made their marks. 

The county was named after the Prince of Orange, who 
married Mary, and came to the throne of England in 1689, 
under the title, of King William. William and Mary reigned 
jointly. 

It is bounded on the east by the middle of Hudson's River, 
north by Ulster, west by Sullivan, southwest by Pennsylva- 
nia and New Jersey, and southeast by Rockland ; contains 
760 square miles, or 486,400 acres, and is situated between 
41° 8' N. and 41° 38' N. latitude— 10' E. and 43' W. longi- 
tude from the city of New York. By the State census of 
1845, the population was 52,227, and sends three members 
to the State Legislature. 

Since we are engaged in enumerating the names of all the 
places in the County, accompanied with a short note on each, 
we cannot do less than take a general, though brief, survey of 
its external features, products and early settlement; to attempt 
more would be inconsistent with the design we have in view, 
exceed our present knowledge, and trench upon the time we 
have to spare. Few in the State contain as much rude, ele- 
vated and mountain land ; no one so large an area of lands 
overflowed with water, and covered by recent alluvia carried 
down by rains from the surrounding hills and mountains to 
the low grounds and vallies. The thousands of acres of 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 19 

what are commonly called the Drowned Lands, situate on the 
borders of the County and New Jersey, on the head waters 
of the Wallkill River, constitute the principal measure of this 
description of land ; they cover an area of 17,000 acres in 
this county, and 3,500 in New Jersey. The owners have 
made great exertions, and large expenditures of money, on 
several occasions, to reduce the area of water which covered 
the meadows, and reclaim, if possible, some of the land along 
their shores, and devote it to agricultural purposes. In these 
laudable attempts they were at least pariially successful ; and 
the portions reclaimed, when thoroughly subdued and dried, 
on cultivation, yield large and profitable returns for the labor 
bestowed upon them. Upon lands thus submerged and sa- 
turated for centuries, the sun and air must act for a consider- 
able length of time before they can become sufficiently warm 
and genial to produce abundantly. There are islands in 
this district which contain the finest quality of limestone, and 
noticed hereafter. 

In other respects the general features of the County are 
pleasant, and happily diversified. The soil is above medium 
character for all agricultural purposes ; and while the agri- 
culture of the County is above mediocrity, the soil may be 
considered worn out and exhausted, as respects growing 
large or profitable crops of wheat, without manuring too ex- 
pensively. That article must be purchased of the Western 
farmer, who yet drives his ploughshare through a strong and 
virgin soil. That this crop must be abandoned for the pre- 
sent, and the land employed to raise grass, or other grains, 
is a dictate of common sense, and we trust our farmers are 
wise enough to see it, and not struggle in an unequal con- 
test against the easy culture and large crops of the West. 

The following is a table of grains, &c, taken from last 
census, with their estimated values, and farmers who grow 
wheat are requested to examine it. 





NO. OF ACRES. 


NO. OF BUSHEL?. 


AVERAGE PER ACRE 


Wheat, 


9,488 


82,881 


8 2-3 bushels 


Rye, 


19,896 


191,864 


9 2-3 do. 


Corn, 


18,442 


603,167 


33 1-4 do. 


Oats, 


14,000 


417,000 


29 2-3 do. 


Potatoes, 


3,202 


173,018 


54 do. 



The value of these products-, estimated at the market price, 
is less than $800,000. We are not skilled in farming, and 
are therefore surprised. 

The County abounds with all the variety of natural grasses, 
with but little intermixture of noxious vegetables. This co»u 



&0 GENERAL VIEW t>E THE COUNtV* 

dition of things, combined With abundant supplies of 1 good ? 
pure water, is productive of a fine quality of milk ; and great 
skill, with long experience superadded, in the manufacture, 
have rendered this County famous at home, and celebrated 
for many years all over the Union, for the best and finest 
quality of butter. This, of itself, is no mean praise of the 
County at large, and of her mothers and daughters in par- 
ticular. This product of which we speak, however fine its 
quality and agreeable its taste, is now rapidly on the decrease, 
and will continue to diminish in quantity for some years to 
come, as the farmers find it more profitable to send their milk 
to New York than to make it into butter. Those, at least, 
are pursuing this course of husbandry who reside within a 
convenient distance of the Hudson, and the track of the N. 
Y. and Erie Rail Road. The quantity of milk produced is 
as great as at any other period. During the year 1845, 6,- 
138,840 quarts from Orange and Rockland found a market 
in the city of New York by the Rail Road. This converted 
into butter would make 500,000 lbs. to be supplied from 
other counties. If to that quantity we add one-fifth for the 
number of quarts which went to the same market by steam- 
hoats on the river, we may have some adequate idea of the 
quantity of milk produced in the County. The last estimate, 
of one-fifth, is thought to be far too low. In one week, from 
the 6th to the 13th of June, 1846, 219,312 quarts were car- 
ried to New York by the Rail Road. 

According to the census of the County for 1845, the num- 
ber of milch cows was 42,256 ; the number of pounds of but- 
ter, 4,108,840 ; the average per cow is 90 lbs. ; the value of 
the whole at 18 cts., $739,471 ; the value per cow, $16,20. 
No. of cattle, 59,712 ; sheep, 45,819 ; hogs, 57,263. The 
above statement shows the large quantity of butter still made 
in the County, notwithstanding the millions of quarts of 
milk carried to the city. By comparing the estimated value 
of this butter with the value of wheat, rye, corn and pota- 
toes, as the quantity of each appears in the same census, it 
will be found that the butter of the County, alone, equals 
them in value. In this comparison, the reader will be forci- 
bly struck with two things — the great value of the butter in- 
terest in the County, and the comparative small yield, per 
acre and value, of the grains raised ; the latter justifying 
our remarks, that the wheat culture must be abandoned. — 
We have been chicled on that point, since our newspaper 
publication, and we refer the gentleman to the table, show- 
ing an average of 8§ bushels per acre. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 21 

The farming interest in some towns, for a few years past, 
has taken a new direction in another particular. More at- 
tention has been bestowed on raising and feeding stock for 
market, than formerly. This more agreeable and less labo- 
rious mode of farming, when pursued for a number of years, 
will largely and surely contribute to enrich the land, and re- 
store it to its original strength and fruitfulness. Those who 
pursue this course, prefer to purchase the young stock rather 
than breed it. 

The farmers evince a laudable zeal to improve their lands, 
and elevate the standard of agriculture ; for they expend an- 
nually from $40,000 to $50,000 for Plaster of Paris, as if that 
were the best and only manure to be had. This lavish ex- 
penditure is thrown away, to some extent, and shows a wrong 
or false economy ; for had they turned their attention to the 
limestone, marls, and bog earths, found every where, almost 
on every farm of any Magnitude, they would have discovered 
an inexhaustible supply of excellent and more durable ma- 
nure ; and in the form of compost, admirably adapted to al- 
most every kind of soil, and all modes of culture. We com- 
mend this more economical and beneficial method of supply, 
which spends the money still more immediately at home ; 
and the sooner commenced on a large and permanent scale 
the better. This, we think, is the only true economy to re- 
medy the disease — all other applications are mere tamper- 
ings with it. We do not know what other portions of the 
County are doing on the subject of composts, we believe 
there are many individuals, farmers and horticwlturalists, in 
the town of Newburgh, and in the vicinity of the village, 
who, from personal experience, are deeply impressed with 
its value, and are preparing to use it on their lands in very 
liberal quantities. There are localities on the farms of 
Messrs. Thomas Powell and 1. Carpenter, which can furnish 
any quantity of the black bog earth, the principal ingredient 
of the composition; while lime, in like manner, is abundant 
in the same vicinity. Durability is one great recommenda- 
tion of this fertilizer, and makes it economical in the long 
run. The public survey of the County has developed many 
valuable deposites of this earth. 

The mountain districts, though rugged and forbidding, 
contain the best qualities of iron ore, and still abound with 
wood and timber. The manufacture of iron is very exten- 
sive in the southern portion of the County, principally in the 
towns of Warwick and Monroe, and has been vigorously 
worked at ever since the Revolution. The names of these 



£2 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

iron manufactures will be mentioned under their proper heads 
in the towns in which situated. 

The Shawangunk mountain, a spur of the Allegany, from 
the south, stretches across the extreme western angle of the 
County, and passes into Sullivan. The eastern face is of 
easy and gradual ascent, and, in many places, cultivated to 
the top. The western side is more precipitous and less sus- 
ceptible of improvement. The elevated range of the High- 
lands is found in the eastern part of the County, principally 
in Cornwall and Monroe. It runs in a northeast direction, 
approximating the Hudson as it proceeds north. The high- 
est summits of the range ore known by\the names of Butter 
Hill, Crow's Nest, and Bai<^ MountainA The range is not 
continuous, but broken up into abrupt hills. The central 
portions are most agreeably diversified with hills of gentle 
ascent and moderate elevation, and with numerous rich and 
extensive vallies. The rocks and mountains in the southern 
part of the County, from Butter Hill in the east to Pochunck 
Mountain in the southwest, are what geologists denominate 
granite, a primitive formation, and of that kind called gneiss. 
These various formations surround the County south, like 
the segment of a broad and elevated, yet broken, mountain 
circle. Isolated elevations of the same formation are found 
in the towns of Warwick, Monroe, and other localities, of 
which Mounts Adam and Eve, and Snake Hill are examples. 
As we should expect, in an undulating, hilly and moun- 
tainous district of country, the County abounds with a great 
number of ponds, lakes and large streams, including several 
rivers, which, in the aggregate, offer and furnish an im- 
mense hydraulic power, a large part of which is in useful 
and profitable employment. The beauty and beneficial na- 
ture of this water power is, that it is not located in any one 
particular region, but every where in general. It is as uni- 
versally and widely disseminated over the broad surface of 
the County as the rain showers which fall upon it, or the 
"winds which blow over it. We believe there is not one tOAvn 
in the County but has water power to some extent, Goshen 
the least. In the extreme western portion flow the Dela- 
ware, Mongaup and Neversink, which just touch and leave 
the County, and seek the ocean by a southern course. In the 
eastern, the majestic Hudson, with gentle and unruffled bo- 
som, white with the canvass of a rich and varied commerce, 
rolls her silent flood to the south, washing the whole eastern 
boundary. Through the central portion, the Wallkill, rising 
in New Jersey, breaking from the slough of the Drowned 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 23 

Lands, pursues her uneven and winding- way to the north, 
with smaller tributaries, and rich in hydraulic power, enters 
the County of Ulster, and unites with the Hudson at King- 
ston. The Otter Kill, Murderer's, Chambers', Gray Court, 
Ramapo, and a hundred other creeks, which run in every di- 
rection through and fertilize the County, will be particularly 
mentioned in their proper towns. 

In many localities the hills abound with limestone of supe- 
rior quality, while the mountain districts yield inexhaustible 
masses of granite for all building purposes. This latter stone 
is compact and durable in structure, and free from the pre- 
sence of the minerals which discolor and mar its beauty, 
after exposure fcr a length of time to the action of the atmos- 
phere. In some localities near Butter Hill, and at other 
points in the Highlands, quarries have been opened and 
worked, answering in all respects, as to quality, the most 
sanguine expectations formed of their excellence. Most of 
the buildings at West Point are constructed of this stone. — - 
The late geological survey of the State has contributed to re- 
commend these quarries to public favor, and bring them into 
more immediate notice. 

The limestone is found in extensive masses in almost every 
town, and its ranges can be traced as definitely and contin- 
uously, as they pervade the County, as the granite forma- 
tion. Too much cannot be said in favor of this stone, in an 
agricultural point of view, nor our farmers too deeply impress- 
ed with its value as a manure, in preparing composts — con- 
sidering the exhausted and run-down condition of their lands. 
The time has come when the great staples of the County, 
grain and butter, are brought into competition in their own 
market, with those of the West, and fail to yield a living 
profit to the producer ; and Orange must devote her lands 
largely to horticultural purposes, and supply the daily wants 
of the city, and leave breeding stock and growing long crops 
to others. 

In connection with this reference to limestone we further 
remark, that there is one location worthy special notice in 
this review, which is now interesting the geologists and na- 
turalists of the Union, on account of its curious and impor- 
tant minerals. The whole subject will be best and most 
concisely explained by the following extracts : 

Dr. Samuel Fowler, of New Jersey, a scientific gentleman, 
in some published remarks, speaking on this subject, observes, 

" That perhaps there is in no quarter of the globe found so much to inter- 
est the mineralogist as in the White Crystalline Valley, commencing at 



24 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

Mounts Adam and Eve, in Orange Co., N. York, about three miles from the 
line of New Jersey, and continuing thence through Vernon, Hamburgh, 
Franklin, Sterling, Sparta and Byram, about twenty-five miles in Sussex, 
N. Jersey. This limestone is highly crystalline, containing no organic re- 
mains, and is the great imbedding matrix of all the curious and interesting 
minerals found in this valley. When burned, it produces lime of a superior 
quality. Some burned near Hamburgh is preferred in all kinds of masonry 
to Rhode Island lime. Some varieties, particularly the granular, furnishes 
a beautiful marble. It is often white, with a slight tinge of yellow, resem- 
bling the Parian marble from the island of Paros ; at other times clouded 
black, sometimes veined black, and at other times arborescent." 

We observe, that at a meeting of the geologists and natu- 
ralists of the Union, held in the city of New York, in Sep- 
tember, 1846, Mr. Alger made the following observations, 
which support the remarks of Dr. Fowler, and bring to light 
new and interesting facts connected with the mineral wealth 
of the County : 

" The zinc mines are situated in the Wallkill Valley of New Jersey, 
which extends nearly in a north and south direction through Sussex Co. — 
Towards the south iimits of tnis valley, near Sparta, there commences a 
long range of hills, which extend through Sterling to Franklin. These hills 
consist principally of granular limestone, (the altered blue limestone of Prof. 
Rogers,) and it is in these formations that the zinc deposites occur. The 
bed visibly exposed at Sterling is about 600 feet. Assuming its present 
average width at four feet, and its depth at 100 feet, we have 240,000 cubic 
feet of ore. Each fool of this contains 170 lbs. of red oxide, and as the 
oxide of zinc contains 81 per cent, of pure metal, the whole amount at this 
single locality is 33,048,000. At five cents per lb., the average price, this 
one deposite would be worth nearly two millions of dollars. 

"Mr. Alger stated that in Edenville, N. Y., he had met with a curious 
substance, the nature of which he had no means of determining at the time. 
It came from the village of Amity, Orange County, in this State — has no 
crystalline structure, but appears in thin layers or seams, of a peach blossom 
or purple color, penetrating limestone. He soon discovered it to be Tttro- 
ccritc, both by an examination of its pyrognostic character and a careful 
comparison of its physical character with the mineral from Finbo in Swe- 
den. On being placed in a crucible, and on the application of heat, hvdro- 
fluoricacid was obtained, producing the usual reaction on a plate of glass 
Mr. A. thought this must be considered as the first well authenticated in- 
stance of the occurrence of this exceedingly rare mineial in the United States, 
or at least the first undoubted locality. He was aware that President Hitch- 
cock had found a specimen which he had supposed to be Yttro-ceritc, which 
was analyzed by Dr. Jackson and proved to have been that mineral. Prof. 
Hitchcock supposed he had taken that specimen from some part of Worces- 
ter Co., Mass." 

The clay beds of the tertiary deposites are extensive in the 
County, out of which a coarse pottery is made ; but their 
principal economical use is in the manufacture of brick, of 
which there are about 10,000,000 annually made. These 
deposites extend along the vallies of streams, and are found 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 25 

500 feet above the Hudson. Those on the Hudson are from 
150 to 200 above tide water. 

In the County are many thousands acres of peat bog, the 
most extensive quantities of which are found in the Drowned 
Lands, the Gray Court and Black Meadows. The amount 
is not only millions of cords, but thought to be inexhaustible, 
and found abundantly in every town except Deerpark, where 
the quantity is small. No County in the State has a larger 
supply of the article ; and should it ever be brought into gen- 
eral use for fuel, as it has been in different parts of Europe, 
every peat bog locality will become a mine of Avealth to its 
owner. And will that day not come 1 We have no plea- 
sure in contemplating the course of its coming, nor actual 
advent ; for sorrow, lamentation and woe, may be found in 
the numerous and bloody train of its coming. Whether liv- 
ing under one or twenty governments ; ruled by the iron 
sceptre of one man, or crushed to the earth by the conflicting 
and cruel rivalry of twenty ; looking down the stream of 
time, as it flows on a thousand years and again a thousand 
years more, the period will come when this wide domain, 
with the hills and vallies around us, shall be crowded with 
a dense population, struggling for honest yet precarious sup- 
port. Man's eternal wants and consumptions in these cold 
regions of the north, will then, as in the oldest portions of 
the globe, have destroyed every shrub and tree, and the hills 
and mountains divested of the waving forests which now 
adorn and crown them with vegetable life and beauty, shall 
become old and worn out, and stand denuded and hoary, — 
God in his providence saw the result, and in wisdom trea- 
sured up these essential requisites for man's extreme neces- 
sities, and in the meantime covered them up with stagnant 
pools of water, and the green, deep sward of the valley. 

We believe this article has been used for fuel fur man) 
years past by several families in Poughkeepsie. We have 
seen it burnt there twenty-live years ago, in a close stove, 
and gave an intense heat. This, if we recollect right, was 
dug out and brought to the village from Amenia. We saw 
it in the house of John Brush, Esq,, who owned the locality 
from which it was taken, 

The villages of the County are very numerous, and they, 
with the mountains, hills and other localities of any note or 
celebrity, will be treated of in their proper places. 

During the war of the Revolution this County bore its 
share of the public burden, and suffered largely in the com- 
mon cause. At the battle of Minisink, 22nd July, 1779, fell 



4-T/ 



/ 



26 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

the very flower of her sons. Her western borders were then 
frontier settlements, and continually exposed to the sudden 
attacks and murderous incursions of the Indians and tories. 
No one was safe by night or day, and the ordinary business 
of life was frequently performed with weapons of defence in 
the hand. Oftentimes — in the absence of husbands and sons, 
hastily called into service — mothers and daughters, unused 
to the hardship and drudgery of out-door labor, dressed the 
cornfields and reaped the grain harvests. We claim the pri- 
vilege of stating here, that our mothers, like the chief of Gre- 
cian matrons, felt equally with our fathers the bright and 
burning flame of patriotism, and with a firm reliance on hea- 
ven sent their sons to battle with willing hearts. These in- 
deed were the times which tried men's souls, and well and 
nobly did the hardy sons of the land sustain themselves and 
meet the shock of war, increased in severity from the fact of 
being partly intestine. 

We marvel how mothers can thus act, though the fact has 
ever been known. The solution lies in these facts : — woman 
is a finer and more delicately strung instrument than man. 
Her whole nature vibrates by a less force. She is more a 
creature of impulse and feeling than of reason. Her percep- 
tions are quicker, and of right and wrong almost unerring. 
She knows a thing because she feels it; goes across lots for 
her conclusions, and does not argue to them. Her percep- 
tions are not only quick, but innate, as it were a kind of in- 
stinct, possessed by other animals. She believes without a 
reason, and belief and opinion with her are fixed principles, 
and she acts accordingly. She loves and hates with the great- 
est intensity, and rarely changes her opinion. She loves 
those who love her, and will shelter and protect them. Her 
hearth is sacred, her home a castle, and she loves and will 
defend them as men love and defend the country ; the mo- 
tives and principles of action in both are alike. 

From these facts, founded in the nature and organization 
of woman, she can do what man can ; and though she weeps 
when she does it, it is no evidence that she relents, but of the 
truthfulness and sincerity with which she does it. A mother 
then can clothe her son in armor, bid him go and meet the 
enemy of his country, and if dishonored see her no more. — 
Such things are proved by the unbroken line of history in 
every age. 

In this County are many places around which linger and 
thickly cluster dear and interesting memories of Revolution- 
ary times ; among which the patriot delights to revel, as they 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 27 

insensibly lead him back to the moving - incidents then and 
there transacted. But these are too numerous to mention 
here, and we refer only to a few, lest we fail at the proper 
time to place a patriot offering upon the common altar of our 
County. In the east is situated West Point, truly called the 
Gibraltar of America, the scene of Arnold's deep dereliction 
from duty, in selling himself to ruin his country, which damn- 
ed him to American fame. Here also are forts Putnam and 
Montgomery, spots of thrilling adventure and heroic deed. 
Fort Putnam, in the back ground of West Point, stands na- 
ked and hoary upon an uplifted peak of the Highlands, in 
the lonely grandeur of many ages, dismantled and in ruins. 
Within its walls dwelt the guardian genius of the Point, now 
departed to more peaceful scenes, not to return we trust for 
years to come. The Point is in the especial keeping of the 
nation, being beautifully improved and adorned with all the 
various structures and edifices necessary and convenient to 
accommodate and afford facilities to the strong arm of the na- 
tion in the art of war. 

In Newburgh stands the old Hasbrouck Stone House, the 
Head Quarters of Washington, before and at the Declaration 
of Peace, still in good repair. Here the father of his country 
matured his counsel and crushed in a moment beneath his 
feet the rising spirit of rebellion in the army, excited and 
stimulated by the celebrated Newburgh Letters, saved its pa- 
triot and hard earned character* and the blood of our citizens. 
This mansion remains deeply engraven, not only on the af- 
fections of the citizens of Newburgh, hallowed by the pre- 
sence of the greatest, best and wisest hero of any age, but a 
shrine of patriotism, visited by pilgrim strangers from all 
parts of the Union, who would ere this, had it been possible, 
have carried away the building in their pockets, as relics of 
pure devotion. May this spirit and devotional feeling remain 
forever in the bosoms of our countrymen. 

The house was built at three different periods, and inde- 
pendent of the record, the external and internal appearance 
are evidence of the fact. Originally it contained a large 
room with two bed-rooms on the north end, erected in 1750, 
ninety-six years since. Afterwards, but at what time we do 
not know, there being no record of it, probably about 1760, 
an addition was put up at the south end for a kitchen, of the 
same depth of the main building. This made it a long nar- 
row house, one and a half stories high, sixty by twenty-five 
feet, and is the east part. In 1770 an addition to the rear 
was put up, of the same length and breadth of the old part, 



28 GENERAL VIEW OK THE COUNTY. 

which made the west half of the present building", and one 
roof thrown over the whole. The dates of the first and last 
additions are cut in the stone of the building. There is no 
hall or entry in it as is common in other dwellings, but the 
entrance from the east and west are directly into large rooms, 
of which in all there are eight on the first floor. The large 
room first erected, during the residence of Washington, had 
eight doors in it, from which there was access to almost every 
part of the building, including the cellar and garret, with a 
lire-place in which a small bullock might have been turned 
on a spit. In this part the ceilings are very low, the beams 
uncovered and neatly finished. 

We attempt no special notice, no labored description of this 
aged and venerable mansion, nor yet any general reference 
to the many interesting Revolutionary associations which 
surround and endear it to the country. The theme has been 
exhausted by other pens, which we cannot hope to rival, and 
we leave if, untouched lest we mar its moral beauty, and dis- 
turb the calm effect of that patriot grandeur which now so 
deservedly reposes on the public mind. We may remark, 
however, that the location is certainly among the most beau- 
tiful on the banks of the Hudson ; and the view from it of 
the Bay, the village of Fishkill Landing, the Highlands, and 
the richly cultivated lands of Dutchess, sprinkled over and 
adorned with private residences, studded with trees or buried 
in clusters of evergreen, lovely and enchanting. The eye 
of the spectator — while it takes in at a single glance the 
broad bosom of the Bay some twelve miles long, covered, as 
it frequently is, by the canvass of a hundred vessels, of every 
size and description, ladened with the rich commerce of the 
country, floating to and from the city of New York — runs up 
and revels over the. deep and numerous glens of the moun- 
tain mass before him, the objects of which change in hue 
and tint as it traces along the distant outline of the Alpine 
heights. At. the north, the high promontory of the Dans 
Kammer, and the bold uplifted form of Butter Hill at the 
south, suddenly jut into the water of the river and cut off 
the Bay into a beautiful and quiescent lake, whose glassy 
surface sleeps, as it were, amidst the cultivated fields and 
granite formations which surround and hold it. Wappinger's 
Creek in Dutchess, and Quassaic of Orange, both of noble 
name and ancient lineage, once sportive and free as the 
jnountain torrent, nOAV condemned to the servility of labor 
by the active energy and capricious will of the white man, 
come slowly in the notes of Indian sorrow to mingle their 



GENERAL VIEW Of THE COt/NTY. 29 

dying wail with the deeper surge of the Hudson. Denning's 
Point, fringed with a varied thread of shrubs and trees, and 
clad in summer verdure, lies in the waters of the Bay a Fairy 
[sland — fit habitation for all the fabled race, whether gods or 
goddesses of water^ land or air. These, with the thousand 
other objects) and frequently occurring incidents, which en- 
ter into and make up the varied and beautiful prospect, lie 
directly at your feet. Pollopel's Island, bare, crested and 
hoary, stands at the southern entrance of the Bay like some 
ocean sentinel raised up from the depths beneath to guard 
jhe mountain pass of the Highlands and regulate the flood 
of its waters. Nothing, save the glorious view of the setting 
sun, can surpass an early vision from this spot when the orb 
of the morning' rolls up his burning disc, ere he starts upon 
his mid-day course, sheds abroad and covers with golden 
beams the mountain heights of the Beacon. Though nature 
has stereotyped a portion of this prospect by studding it with 
islands, planting it with everlasting hills, and laving their 
base with the ceaseless flood of the Hudson ; yet the daily 
wants and business of the country, the art and skill of man 
in unison with the ever-changing influence of the vernal and 
autumnal air, the deeper shades of summer, and winter with 
hoary locks of drifting snow, holding all in icy fetters bound, 
come in and stamp the whole with an ever-varying and eter- 
nal change. The glorious and majestic outline of the pic- 
ture is painted by an Almighty hand, and, like all his works, 
palls not on the senses. He who fears and adores the one 
will love and wonder at the rich and luxurious garniture of 
the other. Reader, go look at and examine this picture, 
and when thou hast gazed and gazed again, as we have done, 
if the true spirit and love of nature are alive within thee, and 
thou art disposed to know and revere thy Maker, thou wilt 
come and tell us still of its increasing and new-born beauties. 

The following is an alphabetical list of the Toivns in Orange 
County at, this date, of the year in Avhich erected, and terri- 
tory out of which formed. 

Blooming; Grove, erected in 1799, taken from Cornwall. 

Cornwall, erected in 1788, as New Cornwall, and in 1797 
changed to Cornwall. 

Chester, erected in 1845, taken from Goshen, Warwick, 
Monroe and Blooming Grove. 

Crawford, erected in 1823, taken from Montgomery. 

Deer park, erected in 1798, as a part of Ulster County, and 
taken from Mamakating. 

Goshen, erected In 1788. 



30 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

Hamptonburgh, erected in 1830, taken from Wallkill, Go. 
shen, Montgomery, Blooming- Grove and New Windsor. 

Monroe, erected in 1799, taken from Cornwall. The ori- 
ginal name was Cheescock's ; afterwards, in 1802, South- 
field, and in 1808 changed to Monroe. 

Montgomery, erected in 1788. 

Mount Hope, erected in 1825, taken from Wallkill, Deer- 
park and Minisink. The original name was Calhoun. 

Newburgh, erected in 1788. 

New Windsor, erected in 1788. 

Wallkill, erected in 1788. 

Minisink, erected in 1788. 

Warwick, erected in 1788. 

All of this date were organized originally as part of Ulster 
County, except Goshen, Cornwall, Warwick and Monroe. 

INDIANS. 

When this part of the country was first visited by Hendrick 
Hudson, and when first visited and settled by Europeans, 
many small tribes, members of larger nations, were scattered 
throughout the County. The location of their wigwams, 
places of general residence and rendezvous, were along the 
various streams of water, as would be the case with any rude 
people who depended for their support on fishing, hunting, 
&c, in place of agriculture. The names of these various 
tribes and their particular locations, at this day are generally 
not known — in some instances they are. Traditions of places 
bearing Indian names, their burying grounds, and the great 
number of arrow-heads found in certain localities, &c, con- 
stitute the principal evidence of their former residence in the 
various parts of the County. These proofs we shall not par- 
ticularly refer to at present, but will do so in the towns in 
which we find them. Nor shall we enter into any particular 
history of the Indians who may have possessed the Count}', 
fished in its streams, and followed to the death the wild game 
and ferocious animals with which the forests then abounded, 
but merely refer to it with a special purpose. 

Some of our young readers may be inclined to enquire 
what became of all these Indians, and ask, Were they extir- 
minated by the white settlers or removed by (hem to other 
places, or did they leave their settlements and the graves of 
their warriors and retire of their own accord ? To satisfy 
such enquirers, and not to instruct the aged, we make these 
remarks at present, and because the Indian having once pos- 
sessed these lands and does not now, his existence and pos- 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 31 

sessions here, his removal and present absence are directly 
connected with the history of the County. We anticipate the 
pleasure, before a distant day, of seeing an interesting histo- 
ry of these original tenants of Orange and vicinity laid before 
the public, emanating from the historical body referred to in 
the early part of this paper. Knowing the thorough mode 
of enquiry and investigation of the gentleman who has the 
subject in hand, we are satisfied the narrative will be highly 
interesting, and contain all that can be known of them at 
this late day. 

In 1607 a London company fitted out a ship for the pur- 
pose of discovering a N.W. passage to the East Indies, and 
gave the command to Henry Hudson. This and another 
voyage made the ensuing year, failed of their object, and 
the company withdrew their patronage. Hudson tendered 
his services to the Dutch East India company, who fitted out 
a small ship called the Half moon } put twenty men on board 
and appointed Hudson captain. He left Amsterdam on the 
4th, the Texel on the 6th of April, and arrived on the coast 
on the 18th July, 1609, near Portland, in Maine. Proceed- 
ing south he came to Cape Cod, and landed 3rd of August. 
Entered the Chesapeak Bay 24th of August, and then return- 
ed north and discovered the Delaware Bay 28th August; — 
on the 3rd of September, 1609, he anchored within Sandy 
Hook. The tradition is, his men landed first on Coney Island, 
in Kings Co., while out in a boat fishing on the 4th f Here 
the natives came aboard and behaved well, and wished to 
barter for knives, beads, clothing, &c. Next day sent his 
boat out; the crew landed in N. J. and went some distance 
into the woods, where they were well received by the natives, 
who gave them green corn and dried currants, as stated in 
his journal. The currants were no doubt whortleberries. — 
On 6th Sept. sent a boat to explore the mouth of the river — 
the strait between Long and Staten Islands, now called the 
Narrows. The boat spent the day exploring, and returning 
were attacked by the natives in two canoes, one carrying 
fourteen and the other twelve men. A light was had, and 
John Colman — one of Hudson's men — killed by an arrow, 
which struck him in the throat, and two others were wound- 
ed. Colman was buried near the ship on a point of land 
called Colman's Point, now Sandy Hook. On the 11th he 
sailed through the Narrows and found, as the journal states, 
u a very good harbor for all winds." The ship was visited 
by the natives, who brought Indian corn, beans, tobacco and 
oysters. They had pipes of yellow copper, ornaments of th© 



32 GENERAL VIEW OE THE COUNTY. 

same and earthen pots to cook in. Though apparently 
friendly, the journal says that Hudson " made no show of 
love " to them, nor permitted them to remain on board at 
night. 

From the 12th to the 22nd of Sept. Hudson Was engaged 
in ascending the river, and as he proceeded the land grew 
higher till it became mountainous on both sides, and the 
"channel narrow with many eddy winds." The natives 
were friendly and continued to come on board. The further 
he went up the more friendly the natives were. After they 
passed the Highlands his journal says, " they found a very 
loving people and very old men, and were well used." He 
proceeded north to about where the city of Hudson now 
stands. Hudson and his ship went no further, yet his boat 
explored it several leagues higher up, and from the descrip- 
tion of the river probably as high as Albany. The mate 
went ashore about twenty-five miles south of Albany with 
an old Indian, a governor of the country, who took him to 
his home and made him good cheer. Here they came on 
board the ship, bringing corn, tobacco, pumkins, grapes, bea- 
ver and other skins, and exchanged them for hatchets, knives, 
beads and other trifles. Hudson made some of them drink 
to see how they would act. Though many got merry yet 
only one got intoxicated. This created suspicion and alarm 
among the rest, who did not know what to make of it, and 
were not composed till next day, when he became sober. — 
This is the first instance of intoxication among the Indians 
in this part of the continent. This event is still preserved in 
the traditions of the Six Nations. After the Indian got sober 
many came on board — one made a speech, and showed them 
the country all about, made the captain reverence and de- 
parted. On the 22nd Sept. Hudson began to descend the 
river. When the ship came below the Highlands the na- 
tives appeared of a different character, extremely trouble- 
some — attempted to rob, and frequently shot at the crew with 
bows and arrows from points of the land. Hudson's men 
shot at them and killed ten or twelve men. This was on 
the west side of the river. The land on the east side near 
the mouth was called by the natives Mannahatia. On the 
4th of Oct. Hudson came out of the river which bears his 
name, and without anchoring in the bay stood out to the 
open ocean. 

We pass over the early settlement of the colony, and re- 
mark, that in 1687 the French aimed a blow at the interests 
of England in North America. Denonville, with 1500 



GENERAL VIEW Of THE COUNT?. 33 

French and 600 Indians, took the field against the Seneca 
Indians, one of the five confederated nations who were the 
friends of the English. An action took place near the prin- 
cipal Seneca village, in which 100 Frenchmen and 80 Sene- 
cas were killed. The Senecas burnt their village, the French 
burnt others, and many things besides^ and returned to Ca- 
nada. For these injuries the Senecas thirsted for revenge. 
On the 26th July, 1688, 1200 of their number landed at Mon- 
treal, While the French were in security, burnt their houses, 
sacked their plantations, and put all the men, women and 
children outside of the town to the sword. The French lost 
1000 men in this incursion, and 26 carried into captivity and 
burnt alive. In October they made another descent and de- 
stroyed the lower part of the island. The Senecas only lost 
three men in these bloody scenes. 

In 1693, Count Fontenac, with a force of 600 or 700 French 
and Indians, made a descent on the Mohawk country, sur- 
prised an Indian village on the river, killed many of the in- 
habitants, and took 300 prisoners. The five nations were 
friendly to the English, and Col. Schuyler hurried to assist 
his allies in their distress, and witli about 300 Indians, prin- 
cipally young men, followed the track of the retreating foe 
and had several severe skirmishes with him. When the 
French came to the north branch of the Hudson they crossed 
it on a cake of ice fortunately there, and Schuyler gave up 
the pursuit, having retaken some 50 of the Indians. The 
French lost 80 men and such was the severity of their suffer- 
ings, they were forced to eat their shoes ; the Iroquois, while 
following in pursuit, subsisted on the dead bodies of the 
enemy. 

In 1796 Fontenac made another incursion with a large 
force, and made havoc of the possessions of the. five nations. 
The Indians in league with the English continued to barrass 
the inhabitants near Montreal ; and the Indians in like man- 
ner that were friendly to the French continued to invade the 
settlements in the vicinity of Albany till the peace of Rys- 
weck, 1697. 

In 1708 the government of New York, by the sudden 
death of John, Lord Lovelace, the successor of Cornbury, de- 
volved on Richard Ingoldsby, Lieut. Governor, who made 
an unsuccessful attempt on Canada. In this attempt New 
York raised several companies and employed 600 warriors of 
the five nations, paid them wages, and maintained 1000 of 
their wives and children, at an expense of .£20,000. In 
1710 Col. Schuyler went to England to impress upon the 

c 



34 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

ministry the importance of conquering - Canada, and carried 
five Indian chiefs with him, who assured Queen Anne of 
their sincerity to her cause. The expedition was command- 
ed by Col. Nicholson, who had under him 2000 militia, 1000 
Indians, and 1000 Palatines, then lately brought into th( 
country by Brig. Gen. Robert Hunter, a Scotchman. Thi: 
expedition started Aug. 28 ; proceeded as far as lake George 
and then Col. Nicholson was compelled to return in conse* 
quence of some tempestuous weather having injured and dis- 
persed the fleet sent to convey some additional troops by way 
of the St. Lawrence. The petice of Utrecht, 1713, stopped hos- 
tilities, and continued till 1739. In 1744 war was declared be- 
tween England and France, and great preparations made in 
the colonies to conduct it with vigor. The country above 
Albany was kept in a continual state of alarm by Indians, 
who in small parties ranged through the country, murdering 
all they met, and firing and burning up every thing combus- 
tible. The fort at Hoosie was taken by M. De Vandervil in 
Aug. 1746, and the inhabitants at Saratoga were taken by 
surprise, some killed and others carried into captivity. These 
transactions of the Indians and French caused great alarm 
and distress in the counties of Ulster and Orange, and brought 
the war as it were to their own door. New York made great 
preparations to carry on the war, and if possible take Crown 
Point and Montreal. The Six Nations held a congress in 
Albany in July, 1746, which was attended by the counsel of 
the Governor, he being sick. On this occasion the Indians 
renewed their pledge to unite heartily in the war against the 
French. This amounted to nothing, as England failed to 
send troops to the country, and peace was again made in 
1748 by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, and the war closed. 

In 1753, while De Lancey acted as Governor, the English 
and French mutually extended their settlements, and each 
was anxious to possess the best posts for trading with the 
Indians. Mutual aggressions made mutual complaints, which 
were soon followed by open acts of hostility. 

In Sept. 1755, the colonies made great efforts to conduct, 
the war against the French. This campaign was conducted 
on a large scale. There was one expedition against, the 
French in Nova Scotia, another against them on the Ohio, 
one against Crown Point, and a fourth against Fort Niagara, 
built by and in the possession of the French. The first was 
unsuccessful ; the second failed by the defeat of Braddock ; 
the third, under Gen. Wm. Johnson, partially failed ; and 
the fourth, under Governor Shirly of Massachusetts, advan- 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 35 

ced to Oswego and was then abandoned and the troops re- 
turned to Albany. During the winter and spring of 1756 
large and small parties of western Indians made frequent in- 
cursions into the counties of Ulster and Orange, destroying 
much property and taking many lives. Their attrocities in 
this county were committed in the Minisink country. 

In 1758, under the administration of Wm. Pitt, the tide of 
affairs in the colonies seemed! to turn strongly in favor of the 
English. Three expeditions were put on foot; — one against 
Lewisburgh, one against Ticonderoga, and one against Fort 
Dii: Quesne. Lewisburgh surrendered to Gen. Amherst in 
July. Abercrombie with 16,000 men attacked Ticonderoga, 
but was compelled; to retire ; and the garrison at Fort Dti 
Quesne, not being sustained by the Indian allies, in Decem- 
ber abandoned and burnt the fort on the approach of Gen. 
Forbes. When Abercrombie was defeated he sent Col. Brad- 
street with 3,000 men against Fort Frontenac, on the outlet 
of Lake Ontario, which surrendered. 

Quebec and other forts were taken in 1759 by the English, 
which placed Canada in their possession,, and prevented the 
incursions of the Indians and French into the territory of 
New York, which had for many years impeded its prosperity. 

It appears from this statement that the Indians of New 
York were engaged in all the various wars between the 
French and English from 1687 to 1759,. sometimes as the 
allies of England, and at. others^ on their own account. The 
great Indian settlements were in. the northern and western 
parts of the State. Here the Five Confederated Nations re- 
sided ; and when they were attacked by the French and In- 
dians from Canada, all others in the various localities of the 
State were from time to time drawn into the great war mael- 
strom to protect their friends or revenge their injuries. In do- 
ing so the Indians were true to the instinct of their nature; re- 
venge and the scent of blood alangthewar path were sufficient 
incentives. The consequence of these continued wars was, the 
Indians in greater or smaller numbers from time to time left 
the County and became united with their northern friends or 
were killed in battle, — so much so that at the commencement 
of the Revolution there were only a few straggling Indians- 
in the County, and those of a friendly character. 

The enquiries supposed to be made by our young readers- 
are now answered, we trust, to their satisfaction, and we 
leave the subject with but few addition.*! remarks. The In- 
dians lingered longer and in greater numbers in the unsettled 
regions of what is now the County of Sullivan thaw in Or- 



36 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

ange; for we are informed that when the commissioners ap- 
pointed to divide the Minisink Patent entered upon the duty, 
they refused to run a line which extended to the Delaware 
river, and assigned as a reason therefor in their report, that 
the lands were of little value, and the region of country 
through which the line ran so thickly infested with hostile 
Indians that they deemed it unsafe. This Was in 1767. 

While the Indians resided here it does not appear that they 
were unfriendly or particularly hostile to the early settlers ; 
on the contrary, the little evidence wc have and the absence 
of the knowledge of any general or partial war between them 
before they removed, are evidence of their friendly charac- 
ter and of the peaceable condition of the inhabitants during 
their joint occupation of the County. It was only after their 
return to the County, just before and during the war of the 
Revolution, they assumed a hostile character, and declared 
themselves, by their conduct, enemies of the settlers. The 
wars in which they had been engaged seemed to have in- 
creased their ferocity, and they returned thirsting for human 
blood. During this period the County did not experience 
much personal injury or loss of life from their incursions, one 
or two cases excepted. The eastern towns were wholly ex- 
empt and never visited by a hostile Indian. The towns of 
Montgomery and Wallkill, though extending back to the 
Shawangunk mountain, the only barrier separating the In- 
dian from the white man in that, direction, were equally safe ; 
and it was only in the Minisink country where the destruc- 
tive storm of Indian war was felt and poured out its unmiti- 
gated fury. To this locality ran the pathway of the Indian 
along the valley of the Mamakating and through the gorge 
of the mountain, which gave easy access and a safe retreat. 
In like manner they passed from the valley at the north, 
and made their rapid and bloody descents upon the frontier 
settlements of Ulster. 

Between these points in Ulster and Orange, the Shawan- 
gunk mountain was too impracticable for Indian warfare, 
and consequently the inhabitants of the County within that 
space were shielded by it, and remained personally in com- 
parative security in their own dwellings. The incursions of 
the Indians were sudden and of short duration, of a sly and 
stealthy character, and what they did was executed as much 
as possible in secret. They gave no notice of approach — that 
was only known by the war whoop and gleam of the toma- 
hawk. Their attack was like that of the hawk from the sky 
or the panther from his lair. The blow was given, and ere 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 37 

the survivors could rally or defend, the foe was gone. It was 
to these points of Indian assault that the militia of Ulster and 
Orange were so frequently called during the war. The ser- 
vice was troublesome and perplexing ; for when at home 
they lived in daily expectation of being called at a moment's 
notice to go against the Indians, while the service itself was 
surrounded with much clanger and hardship in its execution. 
As far as these Indian aggressions were made upon the in- 
habitants of this County immediately before or during the 
war, they Avill be noticed in their appropriate places. 

INDIAN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST ARRIVAL OF THE DUTCH AT NEW 

YORK ISLAND. 

The Lenni Lenape claim the honor of having received and welcomed the 
Europeans on their first arrival in the country situated between New Eng- 
land and Virginia. Tf is probable, however, that the Mahicani or Mohicans, 
who then inhabited the banks of the Hudson, concurred in the hospitable 
act. The relation I am going to make was taken down many years since 
from the mouth of an intelligent Delaware Indian, and may be considered 
as a correct account of the tradition existing among them of this momentous 
event. I give it as much as possible in their own language. 

A great many years ago, when men with a white skin had never yet been 
seen in this land, some Indians who were out fishing at a place where the 
sea widens, espied at a great distance something remarkably large floating 
on the water, and such as they had never seen before. These Indians im- 
mediately returning to the shore, apprised their countrymen of what they 
had observed, and pressed them to go out with them and discover what it 
might be. They hurried out together, and saw with astonishment the phe- 
nomenon which now appeared to their sight, but could not agree upon what 
it was; some believed it to be an uncommon large fish or animal, while 
others were of opinion that it must be a very big house floating on the sea. 
At length the spectators concluded that this wonderful object was moving 
towards the land, and that it must be an animal or something else that had 
life in it ; it would therefore be proper to inform all the Indians on the in- 
habited islands of what they had seen, and put them on their guard. Ac- 
cordingly they sent off a number of runners and watermen to carry the news 
to their scattered chiefs, that they might send off in every direction for the 
warriors, with a message that they should come on immediately. These 
arriving in numbers, and having themselves viewed the strange appearance, 
and observing that it was actually moving towards the river or bay, conclu- 
ded it to be a remarkably large house in which the Mannitto (the Great or 
Supreme Being) himself was present, and that he probably was coming to 
visit them. By this time the chiefs were assembled at York Island, and de- 
liberating as to the manner in which they should receive their Mannitto on 
his arrival. Every measure was taken to be well provided with plenty of 
meat for a sacrifice. The women were desired to prepare the best victuals. 
All the idols or images were examined and put in order, and a grand dance 
was supposed not only to be an agreeable entertainment for the Great Being, 
but it was believed that it might, with the addition of a sacrifice, contribute 
to appease him if he was angry with them. The conjurers were also set to 
work to determine what this phenomenon portended, and what the possible 



58 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

result of it might be. To these and to the chiefs and wise men of the na- 
tions, men, women and children were looking up for advice and protection. 
Distracted betwen hope and fear, they were at a loss what to do ; a dance, 
however, commenced in great confusion. While in this situation, fresh 
runners arrive declaring it to be a large house of various colors, and crowd- 
ed with living creatures. It appears now to be certain, that it is the great 
Mannitto, bringing them some kind of game, such as he had not given them 
before, but other runners soon after arriving declare that it is positively a 
house full of human beings, of quite a different color from that of the Indians, 
and dressed differently from them ; that in particular, one of them was dress- 
ed entirely in red, who must be the Mannitto himself. They are hailed 
from a vessel in a language they do not understand, yet they shout or yell 
in return by way ol answer, according to the custom of their country ; many 
are for running off to the woods, but are pressed by others to stay, in order 
not to give offence to their visitor, who might find them out and destroy 
them. The house, some say large canoe, at last stops, and a canoe of a 
smaller size comes on shore with the red man and some others in it ; some 
stay with his canoe to guard it. The chiefs and wise men, assemble in 
council, form themselves into a large circle, towards which the man in red 
clothes approaches with two others. He salutes them with a friendly coun- 
tenance, and they return the salute after their manner. They are lost in 
admiration; the dress, the manners, the whole appearance of the unknown 
strangers is to them a subject of wonder, but they are particularly struck 
with him who wore the red coat all glittering with gold lace, which they 
could in no manner account for. He, surely, must be the great Mannitto ; 
but why should he have a white skin ? Meanwhile, a large hackltack (gourd) 
is brought by one of the servants, from which an unknown substance is 
poured out into a small cup or glass and handed to the supposed Mannitto. 
He drinks — has the glass filled again, and hands it to the chief standing next 
to him. The chief receives it, but only smells the contents, and passes it on 
to the next chief who does the same. The glass or cup thus passes through 
the circle, without the liquor being tasted by any one, and is upon the point 
of being returned to the red clothed Mannitto, when one of the Indians, a 
brave man and a great warrior, suddenly jumps up and harangues the assem- 
bly on the impropriety of returning the cup and its contents. It was handed 
to them, says he, by the Mannitto, that they should drink out of it as he 
himself had done. To follow his example would be pleasing to him ; but 
to return what he had given them might provoke his wrath and bring de- 
struction on them. And since the orator believed it for the good of the na- 
tion that the contents offered them should be drunk, and as none else would 
do it he would drink it himself, let the consequence be what it might ; it was 
better for one man to die than that a whole nation should be destroyed. He 
then took the glass, and bidding the assembly a solemn farewell, at once 
drank up its whole contents. Every eye was fixed on the resolute chief, 
to see what effect the unknown liquor would produce. He soon began to 
stagger, and at last fell prostrate on the ground. His companions now be- 
moan his fate ; he falls into a sound sleep, and they think he has expired. 
He wakes again, jumps up and declares that he has enjoyed the most deli- 
cious sensations, and that he never before felt himself so happy as after he 
had drunk the cup. He asks for more — his wish is granted; the whole as- 
sembly then imitate him, and all become intoxicated. 

After this general intoxication had ceased, for they say that while it last- 
ed the whites had confined themselves to their vessel, the man with the red 
clothes returned again, and distributed presents among them, consisting of 



GENERAL VIEW OE THE COUNTY. 39 

beads, axes, hoes, and stockings, such as the white people wear. They soon 
became familiar with each other, and began to converse by signs. The 
Dutch made them understand that they would not stay here, that they would 
return home again, but would pay them another visit the next year, when 
they would bring them more presents, and stay with them awhile ; but as 
they could not live without eating, they should want a little land of them 
to sow seeds, in order to raise herbs and vegetables to put into their broth. 
They went away as they had said, and returned in the following season, 
when both parties were much rejoiced to see each other; but the whites 
laughed at the Indians, seeing that they knew not the use of the axes and 
hoes they had given them the year before ; for they had these hanging to 
their breasts as ornaments, and the stockings were made use of as tobacco 
pouches The whites now put handles to the former for them, and cut trees 
down before their eyes, hoed up the ground and put the stockings on their 
legs. Here, they say, a general laughter ensued among the Indians, that 
they had remained ignorant of the use of such valuable implements, and had 
borne the weight of such heavy metal hanging to their necks for such a 
length of time. They took every white man they saw for an inferior Man- 
nitto attendant on the Supreme Deity, who shone superior in the red and 
laced clothes. As the whites became daily more familiar with the Indians, 
they at last proposed to stay with them, and asked only for so much ground 
for a garden spot as, they said, the hide of a bullock would cover or encom- 
pass, which hide was spread before them. The Indians readily granted this 
apparently reasonable request : but the whites then took a knife, and begin- 
ning at one end of the hide, cut it up to a Jong rope not thicker than a child's 
finger, so that by the time the whole was cut up it made a great heap ; they 
then took the rope at one end, and drew it gently along, carefully avoiding 
its breaking. It was drawn out into a circular form, and being enclosed at 
its ends, encompassed a large piece of ground. The Indians were surprised 
at the superior wit of the whites,* but did not wish to contend with them 
about a little land, as they had still enough themselves. The white and 
red men lived contentedly together for a long time, though the former from 
time to time asked for more land, which was readily obtained, and thus they 
gradually proceeded higher up the Mahicannittuck, until the Indians began 
to believe that they would soon want all their country, which in the end 
proved true. 

We do not know that our paper suffers much for its lack 
of information relative to Indian habits, customs and man- 
ners, for we are not aware that the Indians of this County 
differed in these respects much from others in the State to 
which they were related. We are twenty-five years too late 
to know much about them. There is not one man living in 
the County who has seen an Indian resident, and the know- 
ledge of them died with the last generation. We have not 
seen one line printed, and all the traditions which have come 
down to us from aged inhabitants and early settlers, who saw 
and knew them as far as concerns the above particulars, upon 
enquiry, are not worth gathering to relate. The Indian chn- 

* These Dutchmen were probably acquainted with what is related of Queen 
Dido in ancient history, and thus turned their classical knowledge to good account. 



40 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 

racter in this State is well known, and we have no reason to 
believe the character of the Indians of Orange was material- 
ly different. If you know one, you know the general charac- 
ter of those who compose his wigwam, and knowing these 
you know that of his tribe. They are all alike — dirty, sloth- 
ful and indolent, trustworthy and confiding in their friend- 
ships, while fierce and revengeful under other circumstances. 
Their good will and enmity are alike easily purchased. All 
have the war dance before starting upon and after returning 
from the war-path ; and bury the dead standing, with their 
war instruments. Their known rule of warfare is an indis- 
criminate massacre of men, women and children ; cruel to 
their captives, whom they usually slay with the tomahawk 
or burn up at the stake. They believe in a future state of 
rewards and punishments, and sacrifice to a Good Spirit — an 
unknown god. 

We have the testimony of Hendrick Hudson that the In- 
dians above the Highlands were kind and friendly to him 
and his crew, and the more so the further he proceeded up 
the river. This, we presume, related to those on both sides of 
the river, though below the Highlands they were of a more 
hostile character. We have understood, as coming from 
some of the early settlers, who first located in Westchester 
and Dutchess and afterwards removed here, as many of them 
did, the impression there was very general, that the Indians 
on that side were less hostile and more friendly to the white 
settlers than those on the west ; and this was given as a rea- 
son for settling there, which accounts in some measure, for 
the earlier settlement of that side of the river. We infer, 
from the absence of all written accounts of any thing very 
peculiar or different in the habits and customs of the Indians 
of the County from others in the State, and from the poverty 
of tradition in this respect, that there were no such peculiar 
differences, but were similar and identical with those of the 
heathen Indian at Onondaga and Buffalo, before modified 
and changed by white association. We have recently seen 
the proposals of Dr. Arnell, in 1818, to publish a history of 
the County, and in them he proposed to treat of Indian cha- 
racter, habits and manners. The Dr. perhaps had seen some 
of them, at least, he lived half a century nearer the fountain 
of information, and may have learned many things of small 
and particular interest in relation to them from some of the 
early settlers then living, of which he would have told us, 
but which now lie buried with him in the grave, never to be 
disintered. In conclusion, we are of opinion that it is a point 



GENERA*, VIEW OF THE COUNTY. 41 

out of which very little could have been made at any time, 
much less at the present, because of the similarity between 
the Indians of Orange and those of the State, whom all of 
this generation have heard of and read about. Under this 
impression, and that nothing of great interest could be found 
in the County and brought out to public view, we have not 
very deeply nor extensively enquired on the subject. If we 
have been mistaken in opinion, and shall be judged remiss 
in the execution of this part of our paper, we have honestly 
assigned our reasons in justification of our course, and shall 
only be satisfied of our error when some future writer shall 
produce the facts necessary to convict us, and spread them 
before the public ; when we shall be among the first to make 
acknowledgements of our error, based on an ignorance of 
the subject. 



SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 



There is, perhaps, no County in the State as early settled 
as Orange, about which so little has been written and made 
public in any way. The history rests in the memory of the 
inhabitants, and the difficulty is in procuring' the items and 
arranging- them together in one sensible and connected form. 
This we shall not attempt to accomplish at present, for the 
reason stated hereafter, as the subject is wholly new and un- 
explored, and the materials not well arranged lor the readers' 
benefit. Not only has the history of the County never been 
written, but we do not know where to go and lay our hand 
upon the written statement of the early settlement of any 
one district or neighborhood in a town, much less of a town, 
except' one relating to Minisink, which we lay before the 
reader, and is of very interesting character for early informa- 
tion. We think the learned and well-informed among those 
who have preceded us in the County were direlict in this 
particular. As it is, all the facts with uncertain dates lie in 
a confused mass, and we have no certain relief or guide to 
direct our steps in threading our way through the doubt and 
uncertainty by which the subject is surrounded. Dr. Amell, 
of Goshen, now deceased, many years since proposed to write 
and publish a history of the County, and why he did not we 
do not know. This gentleman was an old settler, grew up 
with the inhabitants and improvements of the County, well 
informed of its early settlement and historical incidents, and 
withal of a literary turn of mind, and would no doubt have 
written not only an accurate but interesting work. His fail- 
ure to accomplish his design we now experience as a great 
loss in the execution of our paper, as it is to the County at 
large. With him, and those who have died since his time, 
were treasured up many facts of a local and general charac- 
ter which are now lost beyond the hope of recovery — the 
grave has sealed them up. There being no early statements 
nor extended records of those particulars upon which we 
could fall back and draw with safety and historic certainty, 
we are compelled to write the article from the best materials 
in our possession, under the strongest lights which shine upon 
lis. These are general information derived from tradition 



SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 43 

and the testimony of living 1 witnesses which do not reach 
back in many instances with the certainty of day and date 
to the early settlement of the County. 

Ulster was settled at an earlier period than Orange, and 
the settlement of that County had a large and controlling in- 
lluence on the after population of this. The settlement in 
Ulster was made at the mouth of the Wallkill or Paltz River, 
at or near the present village of Kingston, formerly Esopus, 
by Huguenots originally from France, who left their native 
country before or during the reign of the infamous Louis XIV. 
These men were compelled to flee for personal safety, and 
some fled to Germany and to Holland, and others to England 
and to Switzerland. 

As the early settlement of Ulster and Orange and other 
parts of the State are deeply indebted to these persecuted, 
pious and hardy adventurers, we cannot perform a more 
agreeable or grateful task than to honor their memory by a 
few remarks, while we may impart some historical informa- 
tion to our young readers. 

Though France had been a Catholic country for centuries, 
yet after the Reformation, Protestants or Calvinists grew up 
in great numbers all over the kingdom. These she perse- 
cuted in various ways from time to time. In 1572, in the 
reign of Charles 9th, on the 26th of August, the memorable 
massacre of St. Bartholemew took place, and 70,000 of them 
were butchered with circumstances of unparalleled cruelty. 
On this occasion many of the principal Protestants of the 
kingdom were fraudulently invited up to Paris under a so- 
lemn oath of safety, to witness the marriage of the king of 
Navarre with the sister of the king of France. The Queen 
Dowager of Navarre, a Protestant, was poisoned by a pair 
of gloves before the marriage took place. Coligni, Admiral 
of France, was murdered in his own house, then thrown out 
of the window. The whole city was ravaged by the bigoted 
and cruel murderers, whilst the massacre extended and 
spread through the whole kingdom. The scenes transacted 
were toohorrible, numerous and revolting to tell or enumerate. 
In 1598 Henry 4th passed the famous Edict of Nantz, which 
secured to the Protestants of France free exercise of religious 
belief, and joy and rejoicing spread over the land as if visited 
by some heavenly messenger. Things remained in this con- 
dition till 1685, when Louis 14th, of infamous memory, re- 
voked the Edict of Nantz, and sat in most vigorous operation 
the renovated machinery of former persecutions. Churches 
were demolished, citizens insulted by the soldiery, and after 



44 SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 

the loss of many most valuable lives, 50,000 were driven in- 
to exile. They fled, as before remarked, to England, Swit- 
zerland, Germany and Holland. In Holland they made ex- 
tensive settlements, built churches, and had among them 
some of the most distinguished preachers, of whom the elo- 
quent Saurin was one. The Huguenots of whom we speak 
are a part of this persecuted people, who fled to Holland and 
afterwards continued their wanderings till they came to these 
shores. This emigration of Huguenots to this country took 
place in the latter part of the 17th century, and arriving, pass- 
ed up tbe Hudson and established themselves at the mouth 
of the Wallkill. After a time some of these, or others from 
the settlement, passed down the Valley of Mamakating as 
far as the Delaware River, and there made settlements on 
the Neversink River, in the Minisink country. Others in 
like manner proceeded up the Valley of the Wallkill, and 
from time to time made settlements along the whole course 
of the stream, including parts of New Jersey and Pennsylva- 
nia. The Dutch, when they came, thought no lands worth 
settling unless they were fiat and rich, and these were of that 
description. Emigrants from the settlements on the Never- 
sink River pushed their fortunes into New Jersey and settled 
the town of Wantage, in the County of Sussex. An old 
family by the name of Decker were the pioneers in that di- 
rection, which is now very numerous, and from them Deck- 
ertown has its name. The old settlers along the Valley of 
the Wallkill, in Orange, as occasion required from time to 
time pushed their children east and west, further and further 
from the stream, till the Dutch may be considered as the first 
sparse population of the towns of Montgomery, Crawford, 
Deerpark and Minisink. In this process of settlement they 
passed over the town of Wallkill. 

In confirmation of our remarks, we make an extract from 
an editorial article in the first No. of the Ulster Huguenot, 
printed at Kingston, written by a gentleman well acquaint- 
ed with the history of these early emigrants and persecuted 
men : 

"The Ulster Huguenots were a fragment of that resolute Christian band 
of 50,000 who fled from France in the 17th century, to escape the rack and 
wheel of a persecution for conscience-sake, to which no parallel is found in 
history, The Edict of Nantz had promised them safety ; and though they 
were for a time apparently restored to that liberty which they so deeply 
prized, yet their grievances at length became insupportable, and they were 
compelled to fly for their safety — some repairing to Switzerland, others to 
Germany — to Holland and to England. The eyes of many of these sufferers 
were soon turned towards the New World. They looked here for rest from 



SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COtmTY. 45 

strife and persecution— for a land where they might Jive according to the 
dictates Of temperance and virtue ; and worship their Creator as they thought 
appropriate. Many of these exile? settled in the vallies of Ulster', We have 
the names of twelve of these early settlers : 

Lewis Dubois, Christian Dcyo, Abraham. Hasbroitck, 

Andri Lefebre, Jean Hasbrouck, Pierre Dcyo, 

Lewis Bci'ier, Anthoine Crispcll, Abraham Dubois, 

Hugur Frere, hade Dubois, Liman Lefebre. 

We are unahle to give the names of all who followed these emigrants ; 
but from them have sprung numerous descendants Who now form a large 
portion of the most Worthy inhabitants of our County- The story of the 
cruelties inflicted on these early settlers by the barbarous Indians — of their 
undaunted perseverance in the midst of trials — that love of freedom; that 
regard for a life of temperance and piety which they at all times displayed, 
is calculated at once to enlist our warmest sympathies, and to inspire us with 
the highest admiration for their virtues." 

The term "Huguenot" was first applied to the Protes- 
tants in France by way of derision, and had its rise in 1560. 
According to some authors, the term had its origin from a 
Gate in the city of Taurs, called the Gate of Fourgon, by 
corruption fromyeu, Heugon, i.e. the late Hugon. This Hu- 
gon was a count of Taurs, very wicked, fierce and cruel, in- 
somuch that his ghost returned and beat and abused all he 
met. Others say it was applied to the Protestants because 
they met to worship in subterraneous vaults near the Gate of 
Hugon. They were first called so at the city of Taurs. — 
Others derive it from the circumstance that they were friend- 
ly to keeping the line of Hugh Capet on the throne. Others 
still derive it from a French pronunciation of the German 
word cdignosseri) signifying confederates. These confederates 
were called Eignots, whence Huguenots. 

The first settlement along the Hudson was made in the 
town of Newburgh on the German patent, near the site of 
the village of Newburgh, by emigrants from Germany, who 
had procured a patent from Queen Anne in 1719, for 2,190 
acres at a place on the Hudson then called Quassaic, and 
came and made a location. These Germans just made a 
settlement, laid out the outlines of a village called Newburgh, 
became dissatisfied with the location for some cause, now not 
known, and sold out their settlement. Some ©f them went 
up the river to Albany and others to New Jersey, and other 
settlers took their places ; but who they were, where from, 
or at what time this transaction happened, we are not well 
informed of. While the Dutch held the province of New- 
York the emigration was slow, but after it passed into the 
possession of the English in 1664, it became more rapid and 



46 SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 

numerous, and chiefly from England. The early settlers in 
Newburgh, after the Germans left, were a mixture from Eng- 
land and Ireland, with some Dutch of Huguenot descent, 
whom at this day it is not easy to assort and assign their pro- 
per places in the work of populating the town. Several fa- 
milies about this time came from some of the Eastern States, 
whose descendants arc still there in great numbers. 

The eastern portion of the town of New Windsor, was set- 
tled at an early period, perhaps in Queen Anne's time, by 
emigrants principally from England. The village of New 
Windsor is thought to be the oldest village in the County; 
while farming operations, in tilling the lands, building 
houses, setting fruit, &c, were first done probably in the vi- 
cinity of Snakehill, if there is any truth in and credit to be 
reposed on well attested tradition. The western portion of 
New Windsor was first settled by emigrants principally from 
Ireland, who located there in considerable numbers at about 
the same time, in 1731, at the head of whom was Col. 
Charles Clinton, the grandfather of Dc-witt Clinton. 

In like manner the eastern portion of Montgomery, as it 
was before the erection of Hamptonburgh, was settled by 
Irish emigrants, who located in the extensive neighborhood 
called Neelytown, and its vicinity, — among whom were the 
Blakes, Eagers, Neeleys, Barbers, Booths, and others. This 
was at an early perfod and more than one hundred years since. 
The now town of Crawford, and perhaps at a period nearlv 
as early, was settled by Irish emigrants, among whom were 
the Crawfords, Johnstons, Elders, Hills and others. The 
Irish continued to keep up'a scattering emigration to various 
localities in the County, and contributed quite their propor- 
tion to the general mass of population and labor of settling- 
a new country. 

It does not appear that the Scotch emigrated to any loca- 
tion in the County in such considerable numbers as they did 
to other parts of the State, except to the single district of 
Scotchtown in the western part of the town of Wallkill and 
its vicinity. In other respe'cts the emigration from Scotland 
was as scattering in numbers and time as that of the Irish. 
You cannot, however, go into any district, of the County of 
any extent but you will find the name of an old Scotch family. 

The now towns of Goshen, Hamptonburgh, Warwick, 
Chester, Blooming-Grove, Monroe and Cornwall, received 
their emigrants and early settlers directly or indirectly from 
England. Some, in considerable numbers, came directly 
and settled in Cornwall at the now village of Canterbury * 



SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 47 

and named that place. The English emigration to this town 
accounts for the number of English names in it. Others, if 
they did not come directly, came indirectly, from previous set- 
tlements made by the English in the Eastern States and on 
Long Island. At an early period in the history of that Island 
many individuals came and settled there from Connecticut, 
caused somewhat by the proximity of location. These again 
emigrated from time to time, came and constituted the great 
mass of the early population of the towns last named ; of the 
extent of which we were not aware till we looked into and 
examined the subject. 

At the time of which we speak the town of Goshen was of 
very large extent, embracing within her limits the whole of 
those towns, with Wallkill, and settled in part as early as 
1703.13- 

We are aware of the very general and perhaps unsatisfac- 
tory nature of this item of our paper. We have intentionally 
made it not as full and particular as we could have done, 
under the impression that that could be better executed and 
rendered more distinct when we come to speak of the towns 
individually, and name a number of the families of early set- 
tlers, with the time of coming and location. By such plan 
the reader will learn who the early settlers were, and be in 
possession of a more accurate idea of the individual facts, as 
respects settlement and population, and have the satisfaction, 
if he please lo take the trouble, of putting the facts together 
and forming his own County chart of settlement. We wish 
him to execute something for his own benefit after we shall 
have placed in his hands all our available materials to ac- 
complish it. 

On a view of the whole subject of settlement and popula- 
tion, it will be seen that Ave are brought into close connection 
and affinity with the Hollander, the German, the English- 
man, the Frenchman, the Scotchman and Irishman. All of 
these, more or less, were a persecuted people, men of whom 
the world was not worthy, and came to enjoy those religious 
and political opinions denied them at home, on these wild 
sbores, beset by beasts of prey and the fierce and cruel Algic 
tribes of the wilderness. 

If permitted to draw a comparison from a useful article of 
housekeeping, we would say the settlement of the County 
may be illustrated by comparing the process to the manufac- 
ture and appearance of a bed-quilt constructed of many 
pieces, — a few of which are large, but the residue quite small r 
and irregularly placed on the groundwork. Looking upon 



48 SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 

this as a map, betvVeen the centre and west side may be seen 
a broad streak or belt of continuous patchwork running - north 
and south, nearly of the same quality and color, and extend- 
ing 1 along" the whole length of the article t this may represent 
the Valley of the Wallkill. In a direction nearly at right 
angles to this along the southern side, is seen a succession of 
large patches, and though of about the same color and tex- 
tine, yet not very regularly placed. These, occupying one- 
third of the whole, may represent Goshen when she embraced 
Hamptonburgh, Warwick, Chester, Cornwall, Monroe, &c, 
populated by emigrants from Long Island, Connecticut, &c. 
Looking over the residue of the surface there may be seen 
patches of various workmanship and color widely dispersed, 
indicating, to an experienced eye, their respective national 
manufacture ; and while some of them are dull and partially 
faded, others, of smaller dimensions and more scattered in 
location, are of a brighter color. These may represent the 
various settlements at Newburgh, New Windsor, Snake Hill, 
Little Britain, Neelytown, Scotchtown, the central portions 
of Crawford, Minisink, Canterbury, &c, with the periods at 
which they were made, together with many individual set- 
tlements. The groundwork of the piece is now generally 
occupied — the whole a continuous work of a century ; and 
though the diversity heretofore observed, founded on national 
character and descent, may still be seen in faded lines of 
light and shade, soon the work of universal amalgamation 
will melt down the whole mass of diversified materials into 
one uniform homogenious whole. Upon this basis, represent- 
ing the strongest traits of many nations in their best estate, 
will be erected, as We fondly trust, a national character ex- 
celling that of any previous nation, in power, learning and 
morals. This process of formation is now in rapid progress, 
and, when we shall have doubled our age, will develope the 
results in such strong and marked characters as to suprise the 
inhabitants of the Old World. 

We did not intend to draw this outline map of the County, 
but leave the reader to do it for himself. Since we have 
drawn it, the young reader, for whom we write, may fill up 
the outlines and intermediate spaces at his leisure ; or recon- 
struct it, and render the chart worthy that destination which 
some sensible but too partial Editor has publicly said may 
await our paper. Personally we have not the presumption 
nor audacity to intimate the most distant expectation of see- 
ing our drawings in the common schools of the County ; 



SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 49 

and ought not, therefore, to be held responsible for the par- 
tiality of friendship. 

We place before the reader a copy of a letter from Hazard's 
Register, written by Samuel Preston, Esq., which will throw 
much light upon the point of early settlement in the Mini- 
sink country, by whom and when made, and be far more sa- 
tisfactory than any thing we could say. Though the settle- 
ment particularly treated of was located in Pennsylvania, 
yet their operations, roads, excavations, &c, were within 
the limits of Orange County; and as it is connected with the 
question of the settlement of the County, we think it interest- 
ing on that account and for other curious matter detailed. — 
Any document which runs back and covers the time when a 
town, or other smaller district, was first occupied by early 
settlers, must be deemed valuable at this day. 

Copy of Letters from Sam'l Preston, Esq., dated Stockport, June 6 §' 14, 1828. 

MINISINK, MINEHOI.ES, &.C. 

In 1787 the writer went on his first surveying tour into Northampton 
County ; he was deputed under John Lukens, Surveyor General, and receiv- 
ed from him, by way of instructions, the following narrative respecting the 
settlement of Minisink on the Delaware, above the Kittanny and Blue 
Mountain : 

That the settlement was formed for a long time before it was known to 
the Government in Philadelphia. That when the Government was inform- 
ed of the settlement, they passed a law in 17'29 that any such purchases of 
the Indians should be void ; and the purchasers indicted for forcible entry 
and detainer, according to the law of England. That in 1730 they appoint- 
ed an agent to go and investigate the facts ; that the agent so appointed was 
the famous Surveyor, Nicholas Scull ; that he, James Lukens, was N. Scull's 
apprentice to carry chain and learn surveying. That as they both under- 
stood and could talk Indian, they hired Indian guides, and had a fatiguing 
journev'i there being then no white inhabitants in the upper part of Bucks 
or Northampton County. That they had very great difficulty to lead their 
horses through the water gap to Minisink flats, which were all settled with 
Hollanders; with several thev could only be understood in Indian. At the 
venerable Depuis's they found great hospitality and plenty of the necessa- 
ries of life. J. Lukens said that the first thing which struck his attention 
was a grove of apple-trees of size far beyond any near Philadelphia. That 
as N. Scull and himself examined the banks, they were fully of opinion that 
all those flats had at some very former age been a deep lake before the river 
broke through the mountain, and that the best interpretation they could 
make of Minisink was, the Mater is gone. That S. Dupuis told them when 
the rivers were frozen he had a good road to Esopus, near Kingston, from 
the Mincholes, on the Mine road, some hundred miles. That he took his 
wheat and cider there for salt and necessaries, and did not appear to have 
any knowledge or idea where the river ran — Philadelphia market --or being 
in the government of Pennsylvania. 

They were of opinion that the first settlements of Hollanders in Minisink 
were many years older than William Peon's charter, and that S. Dupuis had 
treated them so well they concluded to make a survey of his claim, in order 

n 



50 SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 

to befriend him if necessary. When they began to survey, the Indians 
gathered around ; an old Indian laid his hand on N. Scull's shoulder and 
said " Pot up iron string, go home." They then quit and returned. 

I had it in charge from John Lukens to learn more particulars respecting 
the Mine road to Esopus, &c. I found Nicholas Dupuis, Esq., son of Sam- 
uel, living in a spacious stone house in great plenty and affluence. The 
old Mineholes were a few miles above, on the Jersey side of the river by 
the lower point of Paaquarry Flat ; that the Minisink settlement extend- 
ed forty miles or more on both sides of the river. That he had well known 
the Mine road to Esopus, and used, before he opened the boat channel 
through Foul Rift, to drive on it several times every winter with loads of 
wheat and cider, as also did his neighbors, to purchase their salt and neces- 
saries in Esopus, having then no other market or knowledge where the river 
ran to. That after a navigable channel was opened through Foul Rift they 
generally took to boating, and most of the settlement turned their Dade down 
stream, the Mine road became less and less travelled. 

This interview with the amiable Nicholas Dupuis, Esq., was in June, 
1787. He then appeared about sixty years of age. I interrogated as to the 
particulars of what he knew, as to when and by whom the Mine road was 
made, what was the ore they dug and hauled on it, what was the date, and 
from whence, or how., came the first settlers of Minisink in such great num- 
bers as to take up all the flats on both sides of the river for forty miles. He 
could only give traditionary accounts of what he had heard from older peo- 
ple, without date, in substance as follows: 

That in some former age there came a company of miners from Holland ; 
supposed, from the great labor expended in making that road, about one 
hundred miles long, that they were very rich or great people, in working the 
two mines, — one on the Delaware where the mountain nearly approaches 
the lower point of Paaquarry Flat, the other at the north foot of the same 
mountain, near half way from the Delaware and Esopus. He ever under- 
stood that abundance of ore had been hauled on that road, but never could 
learn whether lead or silver. That the first settlers came from Holland to 
seek a place of quiet, being persecuted for their religion. I believe they 
were Armenians. They followed the Mine road to the large flats on the 
Delaware. That smooth cleared land suited their views. Ttiat they bona 
tide bought the improvements of the native Indians, most of whom then 
moved to the Susquehanna ; that with such as remained there was peace 
till 1755. 

] then went to view the Paaquarry Mineholes. There appeared to have 
been a great abundance of labor done there at some former time, but the 
inotulhs of these holes were caved full, and overgrown with bushes. I con- 
cluded to myself if there ever had been a rich mine under that mountain it 
must be thea\e yet in close confinement. The other old men I conversed 
with gave their traditions similar to N. Dupuis, and they all appeared to be 
grandsons of the first settlers, and very ignorant as to the dates and things 
relating to chronology. In the summer of 1789 I began to build on this 
place ; then came two venerable gentlemen on a surveying expedition. — 
They were the late Gen, James Clinton, the father of the late De Witt Clin- 
ton, and Christopher Tappen, Esq., Clerk and Recorder of Ulster County. — 
For many years before they bad both been surveyors under Gen. Clinton's 
father, when he was surveyor general. In order to learn some history from 
gentlemen of their general knowledge, I accompanied them in the woods. 
They both well knew the Mineholes, Mine road, &c, and as there were no 
kind .of documents or records thereof, united in the opinion that it was a 



SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY. 51 

work transacted while the State of New York belonged to the government 
of Holland ; that it fell to the English in 1664 ; and that the change in go- 
vernment stopped the mining business, and that the road must have been 
made many years before such digging could have been done. That it un- 
doubtedly must have been the first good road or that extent made in any 
part of the United States. 



ROADS AND TURNPIKES. 



On examining the early records of the several towns, \vc 
find that the attention of the inhabitants was instantly di- 
rected to laying out, improving and working the roads, by 
appointing Commissioners and Overseers of Highways ; that 
after electing the officers, the first thing done at the town 
meetings was to attend to the roads. This was a wise pro- 
ceeding, for nothing contributes more essentially to settle a 
new country than the construction and repair of suitable and 
convenient highways, which give facility to intercourse for 
pleasure or business. Our forefathers came from a land of 
roads, and were deeply impressed with their necessity and im- 
portance in a new country and sparse population. These 
were rapidly increased in number, and gradually improved 
from year to year, as population and business increased, and 
new settlements were made. The old roads were necessarily 
very crooked, as they were constructed upon two principles, 
the make of the land and the accommodation and conve- 
nience of early settlers. The roads are now being made and 
worked wider than formerly, and there is a disposition in 
the towns to shorten distance whenever it can be done with 
profit to the (ravelling public, by taking the turns and twists 
out of the old ones. The improvements of farms and loca- 
tion of new buildings require such alterations. We are not 
much of a traveller, but as far as our observation extends on 
this subject, we think Orange stands before the travelling 
and business community in as fair and amiable a point of 
view, in this respect, as the majority of her sister counties. — 
It is not to be denied, however, that she would be without 
excuse if she did not come up full and freely t3 tin; standard 
of good roads, considering the fine materials she contains for 
their permanent, construction, which every where abound 
throughout the County, It is questionable if any of the 
towns have as yet adopted the most judicious and economi- 
cal method of working the highways. The old and present 
plan, and that recognize*! by law, is an assessment on each 
inhabitant to work so many days, which he usually does by 
himself, team and workmen. It is not to be disguised, that 
men generally do not work as beneficially and extensively 



ROADS AND TURNPIKES. 53 

for the public as for themselves, where they have a personal 
interest; and the consequence is, a large assessment of time 
is too frequently squandered to little profit ; and while the 
time for working- may be injudicious, in many cases, through 
the year, it is a notorious fact, based upon long experience, 
that men in large masses do not accomplish as much labor in 
the same time as when working together in smaller numbers. 
One hundred reasons can be assigned for this, and half that 
number will instantly suggest themselves to the mind of a 
sensible and observing man, who has ever been a road mas- 
ter or worked himself on the public highway. But perhaps 
we must endure the present mode till our wealth and popu- 
lation shall be double, when it will be abandoned, with profit 
to individuals and the community, for the English plan, of 
one overseer on a certain extent of road, who hires the la- 
borers, pays them out of a common fund made by taxation, 
superintends the work himself at a compensation, and spends 
the year working and mending the roads with as many 
hands from time to time as the state of his district demands. 
While we are too poor to pay in cash what we can in work, 
the alteration is not to be expected, perhaps is not desirable; 
yet we think the time will come when the farming interests 
of the County will find it to their advantage to change the 
mode. As we assume to have an eye as well on public as 
private interests, we trust our remarks will not be deemed 
intrusive or offensive. We have worked the roads many a 
day and speak from experience. 

We think no reader of this paper a hundred years hence 
(if it should live so long) will impute negligence or want of 
good intention on this subject to the men of this generation, 
when they examine the number of charters granted by State 
authority to build and construct turnpike roads in this County. 
Nay, he will wonder at their energy and public spirit, and 
admire their liberality and patriotism. Knowing the extent 
of the County limits, he will find that if one half of them 
were laid out and worked from east to west through the 
County, and the other half from north to south, at the dis- 
tance of three miles apart, they would cover the whole area 
like a checker-board, in blocks three miles square, and ex- 
claim, to the honor of this generation, " there was no neces- 
sity for other public roads in those days." True, one-third 
of these turnpikes have never been worked, and some that 
have are abandoned as unproductive, and placed on the town 
lists among public highways; — still, that does not destroy 
the force and point of our remark, which was intended to 



54 ROADS AND TURNPIKES. 

show good intention and commendable enterprise on the 
part of our fellow citizens of Orange. Without further re- 
mark, the following is the list referred to, and date of charter : 

1800 — Orange Turnpike. 

1801 — The Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike. 

New Windsor and Blooming Grove. 
1804— Highland. 
1805 — Newburgh and Chenango. 
1806— The Orange Turnpike. 
1808 — Newburgh and New Windsor. 

The Middletown. 

Ulster and Orange Branch. 
1809 — Minisink and Montgomery. 

Goshen and Minisink. 

New Windsor and Cornwall. 

Dunderberg and Clove. 
1810 — Warwick and Minisink. 

Newburgh and Sullivan. 

Newburgh and Plattekill. 
1812— Goshen and West Town. 

Mount Hope and Lumberland. 

Merrit's Island. 

Bloomingburgh and Goshen. 
1816— Snake Hill. 

Blooming Grove and Grey Court. 
1818— Florida and White Oak Island. 
1819— The Clove. 
1823 — Goshen and Monroe. 
1824 — Monroe and Haverstrew. » 
1828 — Hudson River and Hudson and Delaware Canal and R. R. 

Roads are the great arteries of intercourse between and 
through the diversified localities of the country, and not only 
promote intercourse and enable the residents to transact bu- 
siness of necessity and pleasure with convenience, but in an 
eminent degree contribute, by furnishing the means of eas\ 
and friendly association, to soften down disparities of char- 
acter and manners, and assimilate all to a common standard 
of improvement and elevation. The want of good roads is 
a national bane in all these respects, over two-thirds of the 
surface of the globe. Roads answer the same great purpose 
and have the same happy results in harmonizing, civilizing 
and polishing the character and manners of the various set- 
tlements of a country, that external commerce- has on the 
different nations of the earth who participate in conducting 
it. As a general rule we remark, that when roads are made 
bridges are built. At an early period, perhaps two hundred 
years ago, when this County was without one white inhabi- 
tant, except those now referred to, covered with a dense and 
unbroken wood and in possession of the native Indians, there 



ROADS AND TURNPIKES. £5 

was a good traveled road constructed from beyond the Dela- 
ware River, in Pennsylvania, to Kingston, then Esopus, in 
Ulster Co., in this State, one hundred miles in length. The 
road was made while Holland owned this country, which 
it ceased to do in 1664. Then the objects for which it was 
originally made were broken up by the transfer and ceased, 
and the miners who built it probably left the country. This 
was executed by a company of miners from Holland, who at 
that period came to Ulster County, wandered along the Val- 
ley of the Mamakating to what was then called the Minisink 
country, extending along the Delaware for thirty or forty 
miles on each srde, in pursuit of the precious metals of some 
kind. Here they found what they wanted and went to work. 
Others in their train followed them, located and permanent- 
ly settled on the choice lowlands of the river banks. This 
road must have cost the settlers vast labor and expense, when 
we consider the unsettled condition of the country through 
which it ran, the few that must have executed the work, the 
time consumed in doing it, and the limited means in posses- 
sion. There may possibly have been a scattering settlement 
along the line of the route, which is very uncertain ; but 
those who constructed it must have resided at the two ends 
of the road. This highway was continued as a market road 
to Esopus for many years, and until the Delaware river was 
made navigable by clearing out Foul Rift, when the trade of 
the settlement changed from Esopus by the road to Philadel- 
phia by the river. All things considered, this was one of 
the greatest achievments ever accomplished by early settlers 
in this or any other country, and was the first road of that 
length built in the United States, and proves the hardy, per- 
severing and indomitable character of these heroic men. 

This road is still known by the name of the old Esopus 
road. It was probably marked out and partially worked by 
the mining company, who were afterwards assisted to com- 
plete and keep it up by the subsequent settlers. 

Long subsequent to the period above stated, and perhaps 
as early as 1750 or 1760, the following roads seem to have 
been travelled and worked, and are found districted on the 
several town records, on the first organization of the towns 
as early as 1763 : — 

One ran from Albany to New York, through Montgomery 
and Goshen, and from there down through the valley of the 
Hamapo into New Jersey. We pretend to state the general 
course, only, of these old roads. The valley of the Ramapo 
was the only avenue of intercourse between Orange and New 



56 ROADS AND TURNPIKES. 

York and the eastern portion of New Jersey, up to and du- 
ring the war of the Revolution. The land transportation of 
all the munitions of war, at that period, passed through this 
Valley, as well as the property of individuals : and this cir- 
cumstance, aided by the vicinity of the impassable and neigh- 
boring mountains, may have seduced and stimulated the 
young ambition of Claudius Smith in his lawless brigand 
course, knowing that his safety was insured in the dens and 
caves of the elevated fastnesses around him. This, we be- 
lieve, was called the old New York road, now the State road. 
There was another that led from Albany to New York 
through this County and called the King's road. It parted 
from the one previously mentioned in the town of Paltz, in 
Ulster Co., and taking a route along the river ran through 
Newburgh, New Windsor, Cornwall, and then united with 
the previous one in the Valley of the Ramapo. These were 
the only two principal roads which ran through the County 
from north to south, excepting the one from Goshen to Car- 
penter's point, and one from Goshen to Florida and War- 
wick. 

From the western part of the County to the North River 
there were the following: — One ran from the village of Mont- 
gomery in a pretty straight direction through Coldenham to 
Newburgh. The Turnpike is nearly on the track of this road. 
Another from near the Wallkill, in the town of Montgomery, 
where old Capt. James McBride lived, through Neelytown 
and Little Britain to the Square, where it forked, one leading 
to New Windsor, which was the most ancient, — the other to 
Newburgh. This was called the old Little Britain road to 
New Windsor and Newburgh. 

There was one leading from Goshen through Hampton- 
burgh, Blooming Grove, Cornwall and New Windsor to the 
villages of New Windsor and Newburgh. This road is still 
in very general use. It passes Heard's, Washingtonville, 
Salisbury and Bethlehem. This, on the old town records, 
is called the Goshen road. 

One leading from Goshen, passing the Wallkill at the out- 
let of the Drowned Lands, ran through the town of Minisink 
to Carpenter's Point on the Delaware, where there was a ferry 
across to Pennsylvania. The one from Goshen through Flo- 
rida and Warwick and on to the Valley of the Ramapo, is 
also quite ancient. 

These were the longest and most important of the early 
roads. There were others perhaps as old, but not so public 
in their use, one of which we mention. It led from the 



ROADS AND TURNPIKES. 57 

western part of the town of Montgomery north into Ulster 
County along- the Shawangunk Kill, and called the Hoke- 
berg road, commonly called Hokebarack. The name is de- 
scriptive of the road, which means the hill road. It is con- 
structed on and runs along the top of a continuous range of 
hills or high lands till it runs them out in Ulster. The name 
is Dutch. This was the avenue of intercourse between the 
early Dutch settlers along the Shawangunk Kill, in Ulster, 
and the settlers in Orange. 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The celebrated Sully made the remark, that Agriculture 
may be regarded as the breasts from which the State derives 
its strength and nourishment. It therefore claims a pre-emi- 
nent rank with commerce and the manufacturing arts, and 
is superier to either in point of age and usefulness. They 
are based upon it — owe their existence to it — and the welfare 
of society depends on the production and use of its various 
articles. Nothing can give the same self-satisfaction that la- 
bor of some kind affords. It is the salt of the earth, which 
if it produced spontaneously might be a paradise for angels, 
but no fit habitation for men; for without labor what could 
support or adorn society? 

The curse of death seems to have been revoked, not only 
by the promise of eternal life, but to deliver man from the 
barrenness of the earth, which, in his then condition, was 
cruel to him. Without temporal death the ground could 
have produced nothing valuable ; it was then foreordained 
that death and life should follow each other in one myste- 
rious and fructifying circle. Every thing on earth perishes, 
dies, and returns to the earth, whether animal or vegetable, 
dissolves and becomes offensive ; and the labor of man, in 
union with the physical laws of the universe, continue to re- 
produce from all these decayed structures, and keep the earth 
in perpetual renovation. 

The great benefits of agricultural improvements at this day 
in a civilized nation are too apparent for argument, and the 
main points to be well and thoroughly considered, arranged 
and adopted are, what is its present exact state of improve- 
ment — is it susceptible of further advance towards perfection, 
and if so, what the surest and most economical means to ac- 
complish the object ? We do not intend to enter into any 
discussion of these points ; they have been and are in the 
special keeping and advisement of the Agricultural Society 
of the County, which is doing all it reasonably can to incul- 
cate its lessons on the public mind relative to the improve- 
ment of our lands, the best modes of culture in every depart- 
ment, the selection of seeds and the growing of stock. The 
pride and glory of our day are, that Chemistry and kindred 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 59 

sciences are testing their subtle and efficient powers upon the 
hitherto hidden nature of the various soils, — analyzing- their 
compositions — developing their injurious and nutricious pro- 
perties, so as to apply the numerous fertilizers to the best ad- 
vantage, in all cases to insure the greatest success. 

The theory of Agriculture, in our opinion, is based on three 
great fundamental principles. The first is, the soil ought to 
be made and kept dry — free from all superfluous moisture. 
Second, it ought to be kept clean — free from all weeds which 
injure the crops and exhaust the soil. Third, it ought to be 
made and kept rich by all the manures available, so that it 
will yield most abundantly. These principles are few but 
efficient; and the whole farming interest of the County has 
it in its power to carry out and effectuate them to a greater 
extent than it now does. We hold every farmer bound, in 
justice to the light now being shed upon the subject, to him- 
self and his country, to make the most of his profession, the 
nature and condition of his lands. This requirement is uni- 
versal in its demands, and from its rigorous exactions there is 
no exception. These principles carried out for a few years 
would brighten up the already glowing face of the country, 
and in the long run amply compensate for the toil and ex- 
pense. To this work Orange must come before long, else 
she will forfeit her present good name and pledges given, 
be distanced in the glorious agricultural race, and lose the 
golden prize for which she has entered her name and pledged 
her skill and enterprise. 

We make one remark on the subject of manures. Every 
plant abstracts from the soil more of one of its properties than 
of the others, and that is the aliment most essential to the 
growth and perfection of the plant. The raising of all kinds 
of crops for a succession of years on the same soil, will ex- 
haust all the properties of the land to some extent, Avhile the 
growing of one kind only abstracts one property. The great 
principle in manuring, therefore, is not to manure alike for 
corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, &c, which has heretofore too 
generally prevailed, but so as to meet the exhausting nature 
of the peculiar crop, and restore, in a special manner, that 
principle to the soil, which has been and is to be largely ab- 
stracted. It is on this plan only that exhausted lands, run 
down by the too frequent production of one particular crop, 
are to be restored to original fruitfulness and regain their lost 
aliments. Here we must close our remarks, lest Ave run out 
into an essay, — and leave the illustrations of the principles 
above Ftated to be tested and fully experimented on by our 



60 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

practical formers, under the advice and wholesome guidance 
of the Agricultural Society. Before leaving this article of 
our paper, we feel called upon to state, that what has been 
achieved by the citizens of Orange to advance the farming 
interest constitutes an important portion of our County's 
history; from which we flatter ourselves it will appear they 
have not been a whit behind their fellow citizens in other 
counties in an early effort to improve the science, and in 
manly endeavors to carry forward the great and paramount 
principles of practical Agriculture. 

In this historical account we have judged it proper to no- 
tice particularly the first Society — its organization — who were 
the efficient men — its officers, and the doings at large of the 
first annual meeting. This will show the outline of all sub- 
sequent ones. We would think that an institution so much 
needed to stimulate the farmer in improving his lands, increas- 
ing the variety and abundance of his crops, — in the introduc- 
tion of improved breeds of stock, &c, at a time when Agricul- 
ture was slothful and languishing under the old modes prac- 
ticed for a hundred years; and which, in addition, would afford 
a pleasant and agreeable occasion for their wives and daugh- 
ters to exhibit before each other, and the County at large, 
specimens of skill, ingenuity and handiwork, — would, upon 
the mention cf the subject have given it instant attention and 
a cordial support. It was not so, and the effort made in 
1808, after several meetings for the purpose, the farming in- 
terest remained cold and indifferent, and the friends of the 
measure, discouraged by frequent failure, had to abandon it 
in despair; and it wa3 not till 1818, when the effort was re- 
newed and became successful. At this time the State Legis- 
lature had not moved in the matter nor lifted its voice on the 
subject. 

As early as 1808 the citizens of Orange turned their at- 
tention towards the formation of an Agricultural Society as 
best calculated to promote the farming interest, by bringing 
their products and labor in competition before the public eye. 
This is seen by the following circular ; and though several 
meetings were had in Goshen, nothing was ultimately ac- 
complished, and the fate of this laudable effort is detailed in 
the annexed letter from Mr. Bull. 

Goshen, October 25, 1808. 

Sir— la pursuance of authority given us by a meeting of a number of 

gentlemen of the town of Goshen, on the 22d inst. in this village, for the 

purpose of devising a plan for establishing a Society in this County for the 

promotion of Agriculture and the Arte — we were directed to give you no- 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 61 

tice, that a meeting will be holden at the Court House in this village, on 
the 22d day of November next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, for the pur- 
pose aforesaid ; and to request that you will attend and become a member 
of said Society. We are very respectfully yours, 

James YV. Wilkin, 
To Peter Bull, Esq. David R. Arnell. 

Purgatory, March 31st, 1818. 

Gentlemen of the Committee:— You will see by the enclosed note that 
the first motion for an Agricultural Society in the County of Orange was in 
Goshen, in 1808. The first and second meeting was respectable, but did not 
organize, and appointed another for that purpose, when a number of re- 
spectable farmers from Montgomery attended in order to become members. 
But alas ! it had perished in embryo for want of vital energy to give it a 
form. 

The second movement was in the village of Hamptonburgh in May last, 
as you may see by the subscribers to the proposed Constitution, which had 
liked to have shared the same fate with the former, had it not been for the 
little exertions Mr. Carpenter made to call the attention of the public, on 
Saturday last. I expected the meeting would be small, but felt determined 
to usher it into public notice, as you will see by the address which 1 pre- 
sented that day. Think, then, what was my disappointment when 1 heard 
of the movements at Montgomery; it almost astonished me. It was with 
elevated satisfaction I perceived they were about to give vitality to so laud- 
able a cause ; and that we ought to yield the laurel to them, for waiting up- 
on and wishing to join us about nine years ago. I trust they will receive 
us upon fair and liberal ground. 

Permit me, however, to suggest to your committee the propriety of re- 
commending to the meeting at Montgomery, before they form their Consti- 
tution, to admit each town in the County to form separate branches of the 
County Society, and the school districts branches of the town. Thus com- 
munications can be easily received from the remotest parts of the County : 
from the school districts to the town, from the town to the County Society, 
and from them to the State; and from the State the pendulum of informa- 
tion can vibrate back without giving the members and inhabitants but little 
trouble. The County Society to consist of two or more members from each 
town, to be chosen at every annual spring meeting, one of which ought to 
be a man of letters and practical chemical science. These members, thus- 
elected in each town, are to compose a Board or County Society, to vote by 
towns, digest plans, &c , to have quarterly meetings, &c, and lastly, to de- 
liver at least once in each year in each town a summary address of "the most 
important information they have received ; and further, also to lecture upon 
any subject connected with the views of the Institution, — such as the ele- 
mentary composition of plants, animals, fowls, petrified and pulverized sub- 
stances, &c. 

1 feel animated with the consoling hope that I may yet live to hear and 
road discourses from our farmers' boys upon physical and moral science. — 
These speculative views of one who perceives himself approaching towards 
a second childhood, and is partially deaf and blind, are submitted to your 
discretion with due deference, — and believe me, fellow citizens, 

Respectfully yours, 

Corresponding Committee from Goshen ) PETER BULL, 

to Montgomery Agricultural Association, j 

N. Ik— I here send you all the papers in my possession relative to the 



62 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

above business. If they shall help you to but one useful idea it will gratify 
me, and return them when you have no more occasion for them. Being 
sensible of my own ignorance in the calling T have ever followed, I have 
therefor considered that the name of the Institution might be called " The 
Agrarian Society of Farmers' Boys;" it might thereby stimulate our youths 
in the ardent pursuits of husbandry ; and let all premiums be divided be- 
tween the laborer and proprietor. This might draw some of our "sponging 
loungers" into active service, who are this day preying upon the vitals of 
the laborer. 

Thus you have the scope of the mind, upon this occasion, of a farmer's 
boy. Nevertheless, whatever we have said or done, it must be admitted 
that our friends at Montgomery have acted nobly ; they have broke the ice 
in a patriotic cause, and we, as mere floating cakes, if we move, must fol- 
low the current. P. B. 

In 1818 the subject was renewed and the following pro- 
ceedings had : 

At a meeting of the inhabitants from all the towns in the County of Or- 
ange, convened at the house of Isaac Reeve, Innkeeper, in Goshen, on 
Thursday, the 9th of April, 1818, for the purpose of forming an Agricultu- 
ral Society for the County of Orange — David R. Arnell, Chairman, Hec- 
tor Craig, Secretary: 

Resolved, That a committee of one person from each town be appointed 
to prepare and report a Constitution for the government of an Agricultural 
Society, and that the following persons be said committee : — 

For Goshen, Dr. David R. Arnell; Wallkill, William Hurtin, Esq.; Mont- 
gomery, Samuel W. Eager, Esq,; Newburgh, Thomas Powell ; New Wind- 
sor, John D. Nicoll ; Cornwall, Thomas Townsend; Blooming Grove, Hec- 
tor Craig, Esq.; Monroe, Roger Parmelee, Esq. ; Warwick, James Burt, Esq ; 
Minisink, Peter Holbert, Fsq.; Deerpark, James Finch, Jr. 

Resolved, That the committee chosen call a general County meeting on 
the 28th of May next, at 12 o'clock, at the Court House in Goshen, &c. 

Pursuant to the proceedings above mentioned, a large and 
respectable meeting was held at the Court House on the 28th 
of May. William Thompson, Esq., was called to the Chair, 
and John Caldwell appointed Secretary. 

The committee having the duty in charge laid before the 
meeting the form of a Constitution, which, being read, un- 
derwent some immaterial alterations and was adopted. 

In order to give place to the business of the Court,, the 
meeting adjourned to the house of Isaac Reeve,, to receive 
subscribers to the Constitution and choose officers. After a 
reasonable time allowed for subscribers, the members proceed- 
ed to ballot for their officers and members of the respective 
committees. On counting the ballots the following gentle- 
men appeared to be duly elected, to wit : 

^William Thompson, President. 
Selah Tuthill, let Vice President. 
George D. Wickham, 2nd Vice President 
David R. Arnell, Treasurer. 



AGRICULTURAL SODIETY. 63 

John Caldwell, Corresponding Secretary. 

Hector Craig. Recording Secretary. 

Peter Holbein, ) " 

Thomas Townsend, > Committee on Agriculture. 

Hezekiah Moffat, ) 

William Phillips, ) 

James VV. Carpenter, > Committee on Manufactures. 

Hector Craig, ) 

William Hurtin, ) 

James Strong, > Committee on Domestic Animals. 

Josiah Decker, ) 

The officers of the Society, agreeably to the Constitution, meet on the first 
Monday in July next, when a committee will be appointed for each town 
to receive the subscriptions of gentlemen who wish to become members ; 
until then the object will be answered by calling on any of the gentlemen 
above named. 

At the meeting in July preparatory arrangements will be made for the 
first exhibition of domestic animals and articles intended for premium. — 
Agreeably to the Constitution, none but members can exhibit any article for 
premium. 

At a meeting of the executive committee of the Agricultural Society of 
Orange County, held at Goshen on Monday, the 6th day of July, 1818, it 
was determined that a cattle show and fair should take place at Goshen on 
the first Wednesday of October next, and that premiums be awarded as fol- 
lows : 

1 The best Bull, according to age, $20,00 

2 The best pair of Working Oxen, not exceeding 6 years old, 15,00 

3 The best fatted pair of Oxen, 15,00 

4 The best Stud-Horse, not less than 3 years old, 20,00 

5 Swine — the best of any kind, not less than 4 in number, 10,00 

6 The best Calf not exceeding 8 months old, 10,00 

7 The largest quantity and best quality of Butter, in proportion ) . ftft 

to the number of cows, I ' 

8 The best piece of dressed Woolen Cloth, not less than 20 yds. 15,00 

The Cattle must be raised and fed in the County. The premiums to be 
paid in silver plate with appropriate inscriptions and devices. 

Resolved, That the following persons, agieeably to the 9th section of the 
Constitution, be appointed a committee for each town, to wit : 

William Acker, George Gordon. Newburgh. 

Abraham Schultz, John D. Nicoll, New Windsor. 

Peter Milliken, Joseph J. Houston, Montgomery. 

Dr. Elihu Hedges, William Sayre, Cornwall. 

Dr. Robert C. Hunter, Selah Strong, Blooming Grove. 

John McGarrah, Roger Parmelee, Monroe. 

James Burt, Alanson Austin, Warwick. 

John Halleck, Jr., Wilmot Moore, Minisink. 

Benjamin Woodward, James Morrison, Jr. Wallkill. 

Abraham Cuddeback, James Finch, Jr. Deerpark. 

Hezekiah Watkins, Benjamin Strong, Goshen. 

Resolved, That David R. Arnell, George D. Wickham and James W. Car* 
pentcr constitute a committee of arrangements lor the cattle show and fair. 



64 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

This took place on the 7th of October, 1818, in the village 
of Goshen. A procession was formed and proceeded to the 
Presbyterian Church, where the business of the day was 
opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Fisk, — an address de- 
livered by the President, Wm. Thompson, Esq., and this 
part of the ceremony closed with prayer by the Rev. Mr. 
Halsey. One of the public journals of the day remarks — 

This being the first exhibition of the kind in this County, it was not ex- 
pected there would be much competition or many persons present. All were 
agreeably disappointed ; the meeting was very numerous and composed of 
citizens from every part of the County. The animals and domestic manu- 
factures which were entered for the several premiums reflected much credit 
upon those by whom they were presented ; all were convinced that nothing 
had been wanted but a Society of this description to induce our farmers to 
enter into a competition so honorable to themselves and beneficial to the 
County. So far have the labors of this Institution been crowned with suc- 
cess; on the threshhold of its proceedings has its utility appeared manifest. 
Nothing now remains but that the same feelings which induced the forma- 
tion of the Society should be preserved, and disseminated throughout the 
County; another year will then fully establish the pleasing fact, lhat the 
County of Orange is not inferior to any of her sister counties in the science 
of agriculture. 

On closing the business of the day, the thanks of the Socie- 
ty were voted to the President, and a copy of his address re- 
quested for publication, — which was complied with ; and it 
being the first of the kind pronounced in the County we pre- 
sent, it to the reader. 

As this was the first exhibition of animals and domestic 
manufactures in the County, we are induced to state the 
award of premiums on that occasion. These were few, in- 
deed, when compared with the long catalogue of articles 
now enumerated as objects of competition and premium. — 
This very increase of objects for which premiums are award- 
ed, owes its existence and multiplied benefits to the small 
beginnings of that joyful day, and proves the progressive and 
still increasing blessings of these societies upon the public 
and farming interest of the County. The premiums were 
awarded as follows : 

Wilmot Moore, best Bull, $20 

Daniel Tooker, best stud Horsp, 20 

Thomas Waters, best pair of Working Oxen, 15 

Benjamin Strong, best pair of Fat Oxen, 15 

Gabriel N. Phillips, best Calf, 10 

Totten Dusinberre, best four Swine, 10 

James W. Carpenter, best piece of Cloth, 15 

The premium on butter was not awarded. The most re- 
markable articles exhibited were the four ho^rs, which. 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 65 

scarcely eight months old, were judged to weigh 250 pounds 
each. 

president's address. 

Gentlemen, — Agriculture is the most ancient and honorable occupation 
of man ; and although our happiness, our liberties, the arts and sciences, and 
navigation, are in a great measure dependent on the resources of Agricul- 
ture for their existence ; yet it is a lamentable fact, that under all these in- 
ducements, little pains and exertions have hitherto been bestowed, by men 
of opulence and science among us, on so important a subject. By their aid 
and attention, many great and valuable improvements might have beer 
pointed out, and a vast deal of useless labor and unnecessary fatigue saved 
to the honest and plain farmer. Whether this neglect of inattention may be 
ascribed to prejudice or a mistaken opinion (too prevalent) that Agriculture 
is not so honorable a profession as law, physic, or mercantile pursuits, I am 
at a loss to say ; but would those gentlemen candidly and fairly examine 
the errors of those mistaken prejudices, and the high estimation in which 
Agriculture was held by the ancient and polished nations of Greece and 
Rome ; and also properly estimate the attention lately paid to it by some of 
the most eminent and enlightened men of the highly polished nations of 
France and England ; and duly estimate the immense advantages those na- 
tions have received from their useful labors and improvements, they must, 
in my humble opinion, be convinced that no occupation is more honorable 
or beneficial to society than Agriculture ; and that they could not give high- 
er evidence of their patriotism and love of country, than by applying as»all 
proportion of their wealth and talents to so important an object. 

Again, gentlemen, if we view Agriculture in a political point of view, 
there is every inducement to give it encouragement in our country. Our 
form of government is a representative republic. Our representatives are 
mostly chosen by our free and independent farmers — not under the influence 
and control of ambitious landlords, as is the case in some other countries. 
There is therefore every security, that the owners of the soil will feel them- 
salves more interested in selecting proper men to support the laws and con- 
stitution of their country, than any other class of citizens. The nature of 
their property being immovable, they become tied down to the enjoyment of 
it, and of course feel themselves more immediately interested in having that 
enjoyment permanently preserved. 

Domestic manufactures, gentlemen, is another branch well worthy of your 
care an attention : for by due attention to Agriculture and Domestic Manu- 
factories, we shall find it our greatest security to preserve the enjoyment of 
the independence of our country. By Domestic Manufactures I mean chiefly 
those articles made in our respective families, and principally for their use. 
Their materials are chiefly from the produce of our farms, and the labor 
principally performed by those we are bound to support. By giving them, 
therefore, a judicious employment, the value of their labor becomes a neat 
gain ; and that not to the individual only, but is of great importance in a 
national point of view. A due attention, therefore, to this important article 
is well worthy the attention of the Agricultural Society of this County in 
particular, and of the citizens at large. 

1 forbear, gentlemen, recommending to your particular attention manufac- 
tories on a larger scale. They are beyond our reach ; and I have my doubts 
of their success, while laborers may be advantageously employed in agri- 
culture, and until we have a much larger increase of population, and the 
wages of laborers much reduced. However, 1 have no doubt, when th« 



66 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

proper time arrives for their establishment, the patriotism of our govern- 
ment will afford them every reasonable encouragement, and to that source it 
more properly belongs. 

The County of Orange, gentlemen, of which we are citizens, (and of 
course demands our particular attention) is almost exclusively agricultural ; 
and perhaps no County in the (State possesses greater natural advantages, in 
the diversity and excellency of its soil. This affords the farmer a fine op- 
portunity for experiment and improvement. And although our farmers in 
general appear industrious, and well disposed to improve their farms; yet it 
is a fact that we are far behind some of our neighboring counties in im- 
provements. This fact did not pass unnoticed by many of our intelligent 
farmers ; and on considering the difference, they judged that some aid was 
necessary to be pointed out, shewing in some instances defects, and in ma- 
ny others improvements that might be made in the management of so diver- 
sified a soil. And as the most likely means to afford the necessary informa- 
tion wanted, they were induced to propose the establishment of an Agricul- 
tural Society in the County, to whom ail experiments made might be com- 
municated, and by the Society generally diffused. This plan, when commu- 
nicated to the citizens at large, met with their general adprobation. And in 
the course of last summer a general meeting was notified, a Society organi- 
zed, a Constitution adopted ; and agreeable to the provisions thereof, com- 
mittees appointed, to give and receive information on the different branches 
of Agriculture, domestic animals, and domestic manufactories. And at a 
subsequent meeting of what is styled in the said constitution the Executive 
Committee, they judged it advisable to hold what is commonly called a Cat- 
tle Show or Fair, in the town of Goshen, the present autumn ; and to distri- 
bute such premiums as their scanty funds would allow, as an earnest of 
their intentions to advance and encourage the agricultural interest of the 
County, and afford the citizens an opportunity of meeting together and be- 
coming more generally acquainted with the benefits contemplated by the 
establishment of the Society ; and also afford them an opportunity of becom- 
ing members thereof, and by the aid of their subscriptions enable the Society 
to extend and enlarge their premiums; and by that means render the next 
anniversary show or fair of more importance to the general interest of the 
County. 

Thus, gentlemen, in compliance with the request of the committee, I have 
delivered you a short and concise (and 1 may very properly add, impeifcct) 
address; and I have endeavored to impress upon your minds the importance 
of Agriculture, and the great benefits of Domestic Manufactures; and also 
to explain to you, in as short and plain a manner as possible, the principles 
and objects upon which the present Agricultural Society of this County is 
founded. And I cannot but flatter myself, it will meet with your general 
approbation, and that you will feel yourselves heartily disposed 1o give it 
every aid in your power, that its real beneficial objects may not be defeated. 

CONSTITUTION. 

The style or title of this body shall be, the " Agricultural Society of Or- 
ange County." 

2nd. The attention of the Society shall be exclusively directed to such 
objects as in their judgment shall have a tendency to promote the prosperi- 
ty of Agriculture, the breed of cattle and domestic animals, and the encour- 
agement of household manufactures. 

3rd. The Society shall have a President,, two Vice Presidents, a Treasu- 
rer, a Corresponding and a Recording Secretary j all of whom shall be elect- 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



67 



ed by ballot at the annual meeting of the Society, which shall take place on 
each first Wednesday in October, and to continue in office one year and un- 
til others be chosen in their stead; and in case any vacancy should occur, 
a new election may be made by the senior existing officer convening the So- 
ciety, by notice to be published in the Goshen and Newburgh paper or pa- 
pers, at least fourteen days previous to said meeting. The officers this day 
to be elected to serve until the said first Wednesday in October. 

4th. The Society shall hold its first meeting in Goshen on the aforesaid 
first Wednesday in October next, and at said meeting, and every after annual 
meeting, the Society shall determine where the next meeting shall be held. 

5th. There shall be a Cattle Show and Fair held at such time and place 
as the annual meeting shall assemble at. 

6th. There shall be standing Committees of Agriculture, Manufactures, 
and Domestic Animals, chosen in like manner and for the same term as are 
the officers of the Society; each Committee to consist of three, and should 
any vacancy take place before a general meeting, such vacancy to be filled 
by the Executive Committee to be hereafter named. The chairman of each 
Committee to be the person who had the greatest number of votes or ballots. 

7th. There shall be a Committee of accounts, to consist of three persons, 
to be chosen by the President annually from among the members of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee. They shall audit all claims on the Society, and, if cor- 
rect, shall certify the same ; which, being countersigned by the President, 
shall be a voucher for payment by the Treasurer. 

8th. The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, Vice Pres- 
idents, Treasurer, Secretaries, and the Chairman of the three Standing Com- 
mittees of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Domestic Animals. The Execu- 
tive Committee shall appropriate the funds of the Society, determine on all 
premiums to be awarded, admit ordinary and honorary members, regulate the 
annual Cattle Show and Fair, make By-laws, and do all other acts and things 
they may judge necessary and expedient for the well-being of the Society, 
not inconsistent with its constitution and laws. They shall meet statedly 
on the first Mondays in July, October, January, and April, at such place as 
shall be designated by them at the previous meeting. 

9th. Two respectable men in each town in this county shall be appointed 
yearly by the Executive Committee, and empowered to superintend the con- 
cerns of the Society in their respective towns, to procure and collect sub- 
scriptions, and transmit tbem to the Treasurer; also to receive and transmit 
to the Standing Committee of Agriculture, Manufactures, or Domestic ani- 
mals, such claims of individuals in their respective towns for premiums, as 
may come before them, accompanied by their general remarks, addressed to 
the chairman of the particular committee competent to decide on this claim; 
and such claim must be laid before the said chairman at least twenty days 
previous to the annual meeting of the Society. It shall then be the duty of 
the chairman of such Committee to accompany the claim, when laid before 
the Executive Committee, with snch observations, information or remarks 
as the said committee, of which he is chairman, may think relevant. 

10th. The person claiming a premium must be present at the animal 
meeting, unless in cases of severe indisposition, and that to be certified by a 
respectable phvsician ; and no premium shall be awarded without a compe- 
tition, unless the committee of awards shall deem it so meritorious as to be 
entitled to a premium although there should be no competition. 

1 1th. No person shall be entitled to a premium unless such person shall 
be a ru,ember of this Society previous to application. 

12th. The premiums proposed by the Society, under the direction of the 



68 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

Executive Committee, shall be awarded by the standing committee! already 
designated in the 6th article, viz — claims for premiums on Agriculture, by 
the Agricultural Committee; claims for premiums on Manufactures, by the 
Manufacturing Committee ; claims for premiums on Cattle, &c , by the Com- 
mittee on Domestic Animals. 

13th. All property, real and personal, which may belong to the Society, 
shall be vested in the officers and ordinary members thereof. 

14th Each member shall pay one dollar on subscribing his name, and 
not less than one nor more than three dollars, at the discretion of the Society, 
annually ; and no member shall be permitted to vote or ballot unless his 
subscription be paid up — nor shall any member be permitted to vote on any 
question where his private right or interest is immediately concerned. 

15th. This Constitution shall not be altered unless at an annual meeting 
oj the Society, and by a vote of two-thirds of the members present. 

The Legislature of the State, in order and with a view to 
encourage the infant Agricultural Societies, which were 
springing up in many of the Counties, and enahle them to 
award premiums, passed an act in 1819 for the promotion of 
agriculture and family domestic manufactures, and appro- 
priated $10,000 per year for two years, to be distributed 
among the several Counties in proportion to population. The 
share for Orange was $300. The grant was timely and pa- 
triotic. In 1818 Gov. Clinton presented to this Society some 
wheat from Minorca and Egypt, — which the Society placed 
in the hands of several of its members, to be distributed in 
small parcels to such as called for it, with a view to sow them 
and test their qualities in this climate. 

This Society continued its organization, and held its annual 
meetings in Goshen till the year 1825, when it was permit- 
ted to expire and die away, by the very class of citizens for 
whose especial benefit it was originally instituted. It is not 
our business to chide or condemn the farming interest of the 
County for permitting the Institution to descend to an un- 
timely grave. They were its fathers and patrons — for them 
it was born — and if, in their experience, they found it not 
answering the end of its creation and worthless, they were 
the ptoper judges to decree whether it should live or die. 

The last and expiring act of the Society was among the 
most glorious of its life. In 1825 Gen. La Fayette visited 
the United States, and in his triumphal march through the 
country, marked by the joyful greetings of ten millions of 
freemen — such as ancient warrior never saw — honored New- 
burgh with a call. At this lime the Society was yet alive, 
and Johannes Miller, Esq., of Montgomery, the President. 
During the evening of the visit, the old Patriot Hero was se- 
veral times addressed by the representatives of different cor- 
porate bodies, who reminded him of his early and friendly 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 69 

offices to the country — of his great personal services in the 
day of her extreme necessities — of her victories and triumphs, 
in which he largely participated — and in the name of a grate- 
ful people, thanked him for his youthful services in her be- 
half — bade him welcome wide as the domain his youthful 
sword had conquered — tendered him its hospitalities and a 
safe return to the dear and vine clad hills of his ancestors. — 
Among these was Mr. Miller, gray headed and hoary, the 
representative of the Society, who, in executing the task as- 
signed him, honored himself and crowned its death with vic- 
tory. Thus it acted, and thus it died. 

In 1841 the Legislature passed another act for the promo- 
tion of Agriculture and household manufactures, and appro- 
priated the sum of $8,000 annually, for five years, to be dis- 
tributed in premiums in the several counties. The share of 
Orange was $152 per year. (See the Act.) 

In the summer of 1841 the citizens of the County formed 
another Society under the provisions of this act, which has 
continued to hold annual meetings — a fair and cattle show — 
and awarded premiums to the present time. The meetings 
have been generally well attended, and the show of the cat- 
tle, agricutlural products, and household manufactures, very 
creditable to the County. The meetings are held in Octo- 
ber in the village of Goshen, when an address is delivered 
by the President to the Society before the citizens in attend- 
ance. These addresses have been generally well received 
by the farming interest, and constitute a very valuable part 
of the doings of the Society, and are in fact lectures on agri- 
culture and domestic manufactures. We have heard it inti- 
mated that the citizens of Orange are now canvassing the 
question, as well in public conversation as in their own minds 
— aught this Society be permitted to live or suffered to die I 
We are not in possession of the public opinion sufficiently to 
judge of its probable fate, yet we hope the citizens will not, 
by their indifference and neglect, allow it to perish without 
some strong and noble efforts to save it. We raise our feeble 
voice in favor of life, and hope it may live a thousand years. 

Farmers' Association. — This Institution was incorporated 
by an act of the Legislature, April, 1825, for the purpose of 
transporting produce and passengers, by steam and towboats 
on the Hudson, to and from New York, &c. The following 
persons composed the company, and if numbers, wealth and 
respectability could accomplish the object, it would have 
been done. The company went into operation, continued a 



70 farmers' association. 

few years, but went down by its own weight — an admonition 
to all such future efforts. They honestly supposed the sloop- 
ing and steamer transportation of country produce on the ri- 
ver a profitable business, and that by a number of farmers 
clubbing together, having individually a large amount of 
products to be carried to market ; and by exerting their wide 
and extended influence in favor of the concern, they could 
give it a good support, and if not realize large dividends at. 
least, save their freight. The idea was very plausible, and 
presented to the farming interest of the County a fair case to 
be tested by experiment. The experiment was made under 
circumstances ordinarily favorable, and proved a failure in 
their own judgment of the matter, — when they sold out and 
went into liquidation ; since which the experiment has not 
been renewed by another company. The immediate or re- 
mote cause of failure we are not apprised of, but are of opin- 
ion that minute, daily and personal attention of those directly 
interested have much to do in the profitable management of 
all such diversified and complicated matters. 

Stephen Ingersoll, Wallkill, Stacey Beakes, Wallkill, 

James Belknap, Newburgh, Samuel Monell, Coldenham, 

Isaac Schultz, do. James Sloan, Sullivan, 

Wm. Wear, do. S. Woolsey, New Windsor, 

Jonathan Hasbrouck.do. Stephen Fullerton, Minisink. 

Joseph Decker, Montgomery, H. Morrison, New Windsor, 

Dr. Hornbeck, Wallkill, Sloan & Hunter, Sullivan, 

Eli Roberts, Sullivan, Sam'l Waite, Montgomery, 

H. Butterworth, Newburgh, John Dorrance, Sullivan, 

Benj. Woodworth, Calhoun, Wheeler. Case, Goshen, 

Cornelius Decker, Wallkill, Nathan Hulse, Minisink. 

Maurice Brown, Shawangunk, John I. Brooks, Blooming Grove, 

Wm. Otis, Calhoun, Samuel Shaw, Wallkill, 
Doct. Fowler, Montgomejy, 

Note. — We intended to publish the original formation of 
the Medical and Bible Societies of the County, with a list of 
the Judges, Sheriffs, Attorneys, Surrogates and Clerks ; but 
have not been able (though we have taken some trouble to 
accomplish it) to procure the necessary materials. They 
will, therefore, be placed at the end of our paper. 



MASTODON. 



We cannot, without disrespect to the memory of a lost but 
giant race, and slighting the wide-spread reputation of old 
Orange as the mother of the most perfect and magnificent 
specimens of terrestrial animals, omit to tell of the Mastodon, 
Contemplating his remains as exhumed from their resting 
place for unknown ages, we instinctively think of his great 
power and lordly mastery over the beasts — of his majestic 
tread as he strode these vallies and hill-tops — of his anger 
when excited to fury — stamping - the earth till trembling be- 
neath his feet — snuffing the wind with disdain, and uttering 
his wrath in tones of thunder, — and the mind quails beneath 
the oppressive grandeur of the thought, and we feel as if dri- 
ven along by the violence of a tornado. When the pressure 
of contemplation has subsided and we recovered from the 
blast, we move along and ponder on the time when the Mas- 
todon lived, — when and how he died, and the nature of the 
catastrophe that extinguished the race ; and the mind again 
becomes bewildered and lost in the uncertainty of the cause. 
Speculation is at fault, and our thoughts wander about among 
the possible accidents and physical agents which might have 
worked the sudden or lingering death of this line of terrestial 
monarch s. 

Upon these subjects, wrapt, in the deep mystery of many 
ages, we have no fixed or well-considered theory ; and if we 
had, the limits of our paper would forbid us to argue it up 
before our readers, and argue down all hostile ones. But we 
may briefly enquire, whether the cause of the death and ut- 
ter annihilation of the race, was one great overwhelming 
flood which submerged the earth and swept down these ani- 
mals as they peacefully and unsuspiciously wandered over 
the plains and hills around us. Or was it some earthquake 
convulsion, full of sudden wrath, which tore up its strong 
foundations and buried this race among the uplifted and sub- 
siding mass of ruins ; or was it some unusual storm, black 
with fury and terrible as the tornado, which swept the wide 
borders of these grounds, and carried tree and rock and living 
Mastodon in one unbroken stream to a common grave? or 
was it the common fate of nations, men and every race of 



72 MASTODON. 

created animals of water, land or air, which overtook and 
laid the giants low ? that by the physical law of their nature, 
the decree of heaven, the race started into being — grew up 
to physical perfection — and having fulfilled the purpose as- 
signed by their creation, by a decrease slow, but sure as their 
increase, degenerated in number, and gradually died away 
and became extinct. Or was it some malignant distemper, 
fatal as the Egyptian murrain, which attacked the herd in 
every locality of this wide domain — sending its burning poi- 
son to their very vitals — forcing them to allay an insatiate 
thirst and seek relief in the water ponds around them, and 
there drank, and drank, and died? Or was it rather, as is 
the general belief in this community, that individual accident, 
numerous as the race, befel each one, and in the throes of 
extrication sank deep and deeper still in the soft and miry 
beds where we now find their bones reposing ? 

We have thus briefly laid before our readers all the causes 
which we have heard assigned for this remarkable, ancient 
and wide-spread catastrophe, and leave them to the specula- 
tion of others, while we wait for time and the developments 
of geology to uncover the cause. 

But when did these animals live and when did they perish, 
are questions equally wrapt in profound mystery, and can be 
answered only when the true cause of their death is found. 
In the meantime we ask, were they pre-Adamites, and did 
they graze upon the fields of Orange and bask in the sun- 
light of that early period of the globe ? — or were they antide- 
luvian, and carried to a common grave by the deluge of the 
Scriptures? — or were they postdeluvian only, and till very 
recent periods wandered over our hills and fed in these val- 
lies ; and that now some wandering lord of the race, an ex- 
ile from the land of his birth on the banks of the great father 
of waters, is gone in silence and melancholy grandeur to lay 
himself down and die in the yet unexplored regions of the 
continent? On these points, of vital interest in solving the 
great question of time and mode of death, we hazard no con- 
jecture. Among geologists the opinion is fast gaining ground, 
that the epoch of the appearance of the Mastodon on earth 
was about the middle of the tertiory period, — and that he was 
here ages before man was created, — that before that epoch 
warm-blooded terrestrial animals had not appeared. The 
period of their extinction is thought to be more doubtful, but 
probably was just before the creation of the human race. — 
Geologists think there is no evidence sufficient to establish 



MASTODON. 73 

the fact that man and the Mastodon were cotemporary. — 
Time and further investigation may explain the mystery. 

WHEN FIRST FOUND. 

The remains of the Mastodon were first found in this State, 
near Albany, probably as early as 1705, as appears from the 
letter of Gov. Dudley to the Rev. Cotton Mather, of July 10, 
1706 — a copy of which is furnished and worth reading - . The 
accounts which state it to have been in 1712 are erroneous — 
taking-, probably the date of Cotton Mather's letter (of that 
date) upon this subject to Dr. Woodward as the date of the 
finding. They were next found by Longueil, a French offi- 
cer, on the Ohio River, in 1739. In 1740 large quantities 
were found at Big Bone Lick, in Kentucky, carried to France, 
and there called the "Animal of the Ohio." Since which 
many have been found in various parts of the Union. 

No locality, except the Big Bone Lick, has contained a 
greater number of these remains than Orange County. The 
Jirst. were discovered in 1782, about three miles south of the 
village of Montgomery, on the farm now owned by Mr. Fos- 
ter Smith. These bones were visited by Gen. Washington 
and other officers of the army while encamped at Newburgh 
in 1782-3. The Rev. Robert Annan, who then owned the 
farm, made a publication at the time, describing the bones, 
locality, &c 3 which caused Mr. Peale subsequently to visil 
this County. 

In 1794 they were found about five miles west of the yil 
lage of Montgomery, just east of the residence of Archibald 
Crawford, Esq., and near the line of the Cor.hecton turnpike. 
In 1800 they were found about seven Miles northeast from 
Montgomery, on or near the farm of Dr. George Graham. — 
In 1803, found one mile east of Monlgoniery, on the farm 
now owned by Dr. Charles Fowler. These were the bones 
dug out by Mr. Peale of Philadelphia, in 1805 or 6, — and the 
writer, then a boy at school in the village, saw the work in 
progress from day to day. In 1838 a tooth was found by 
Mr. Daniel Embler, of Newburgh, on or near the farm of 
Samuel Dixon, Esq., of that town. In 1844, found eight 
miles southwest from Montgomery, on the farm of Mr. Con- 
ner, near Scotchtown, in Wallkill. In 1845, found about 
seven miles east of Montgomery, on the farm of Nathaniel 
Brewster, Esq.; and, in the same year, on the farm of Jesse C. 
Clove, Esq., in Hamptonburgh, about twelve miles southeast 
of Montgomery. They were also found in the town of Go- 
shen some years since, but the time and locality we do not 



74 MASTODON. 

know. There have been at least a dozen findings of these 
hones in the County. From this enumeration it would ap- 
pear as if the village of Montgomery was the centre of the 
circle of these various findings. 

The different species of this animal are contained in the 
annexed letter to the writer, from Mr. James Darrach, Pro- 
fessor in the Orange County Scientific and Practical Agricul- 
tural Institute, at Coldenham, who has taken an interest in 
the welfare of our paper, and to whom we are indebted for 
many of the facts of this article. 

DIMENSIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL BONES OF THE BREWSTER MASTODON. 



Length of the skull, 


3 ft. 


. lOin. 


Tibia, long, 


2 ft. 6 in 


Between the eye-sockets, 


2 


1 


Thigh bone, long, 


3 10 


Width of occiput, 


2 


7 


WEIGHT. 




Length of tusks, 


10 


6 


Weight of head and tusks, 


692 lbs 


Circumference of tusks, 


o 


1 


Shoulder blades, 


94 


Incision of tusks in head. 


2 


5 


Hip bones, 


165 


Apart in largest curve, 


7 





Fore legs 


180 


At the ends. 


2 





Hind le^s, 


164 


Shoulder blade, length, 


2 


10 


Ribs, 


120 


Width, 


2 


9 


Back and neck bones, 


197 


Length of humerus, 


o 
O 


1 


Feet and other bones, 


383 


Diam. head of humerus, 
L'th spinal proces, bk. bn. 


I 


o 






2 


1 




1995 


Pelvis, breadth, 


6 


1 


Length of animal, 33 feet. 




Pelvis orifice, 


1 


11 


Whole number of bones, 2: 


20. 


Acetabulum diam. 





8 







40 ribs, 20 on each side, — 7 bones of the neck, 19 of the 
back, 3 of tne loins. The teeth were 2 in each row, making 
8 in all — the front ones 3 by Ah inches — the back, 3.V by 7-.V 
inches, and firmly held in the jaws. 

The animal was supposed to be of great age — judging from 
the length and size of the lusks, and from tbe fact that some 
bones, which in young animals are separate, in this had 
grown firmly together. 

POSITION OF THE BONES WHEN FOUND. 

Having measured the giant, let us inspect the place where 
found, uncover his resting place, and observe his position in 
death. Mr. Brewster was digging out marl, and li is work- 
men came upon the skeleton, every bone of which they suc- 
ceeded in exhuming. Though wanting some of the toes of 
the fore foot, we believe they were found and carried away 
in the pockets of some of the early visitors. Like all others 
in this County, these were found in a peat formation, but of 
very limited extent, between two slate ridges. They were 
six feet beneath the surface — yet so deep was the peat below 



MASTODON. 75 

that its bottom could not be reached with an iron rod of seve- 
ral feet in length. The animal was thus held in suspension, 
and as the spot was wet and spongy, never dry perhaps from 
the time he entered it caused their perfect preservation. 

Beginning- at the bottom, the following were the deposites 
which from time to time filled up the pond. 

1. Mud, more than ten feet. 

2. Shell Marl, three feet. 

3. Red Moss, one foot. 

4. Peat, two feet. 

The bones laid below No. 3, and occupied nearly the po- 
sition the animal did when alive, and the whole position that 
of one mired. If there ever was one that came to his death 
in that way, this is the one. 

In the midst of the ribs, imbedded in the marl, and unmixed with the 
shells or carbonate of lime, was a mass of matter, composed principally of 
twigs of trees broken into pieces about two inches in length, and varying in 
size from very small twigs to half an inch in diameter. There was mixed 
with these a large quantity of finer vegetable substance, like finely divided 
leaves, the whole amounting to from four to six bushels. From the appear- 
ance of this, and its situation, it was supposed to be the contents of the sto- 
mach, and this opinion was confirmed on examining the pelvis, underneath 
which, in the direction of the last of the intestines, was a train of the same 
materials about three feet in length and four inches in diameter. This was 
composed almost entirely of the twigs, some of them not even crushed, and 
still retaining the form and structure of the tree from which they had been 
torn. 

In Godman's Natural History, article Mastodon, is record- 
ed an instance of the same kind, and puts the fact, beyond all 
question, that the contents of the stomach of the Brewster 
Mastodon was found. The animal was dug up in Wythe 
Co., Va., and the stomach found, — the contents carefully ex- 
amined, and found to be in good preservation. They con- 
sisted of reeds half masticated — of twigs of trees, and of grass 
or leaves. 

We have made free use of articles written by Dr. A. J. 
Prime, of Newburgh, and found in the American Quarterly 
Journal for October, 1845, and various newspaper publica- 
tions made by the same gentleman. 

Many persons in the community, not well informed of the 
history of the animal and its anatomy, believe it to be nothing 
but an Elephant. For their information we remark, that 
they differ in the form of the feet : those of the Elephant are 
built up under his legs like the head on a column, — while 
those of the Mastodon have quite long toes projecting for- 
ward. The spinal process is longer in the Mastodon, and 



76 MASTODON. 

the bones of the neck formed for more upright action ; which 
caused him to carry his head higher than the elephant, and 
gave him a sprightly and comparatively gay appearance. — 
If seen together there would be observed about the same dif- 
ference there is between a large horse and a large ox. The 
bones of the elephant's head are more rounded than those of 
the mastodon. The crowns of the teeth of the former in the 
upper jaw are convex, and fit in the concave surfaces of those 
in the under jaw. The teeth of the mastodon are formed of 
two rows of conical prominences like cones or nipples, from 
which the animal receives its name, while the teeth of the 
elephant arc more horizontal on the masticating surface. — 
The jaws of one had more circular motion than those of the 
other. These are a few of the physiological differences which 
mark the distinction between the animals, yet the formation 
of the bones and tusks show them to be nearly allied. 

Orange County Scientific and Practical ) 
Agricultural Institute, near Walden. ) 

To Stun'l W. Eager, Esq.: — 

My Dear Sir, — It is a very happy feature of the age that there is a dispo- 
sition to record and embody those traditionary item?! of our nation's history 
at such short intervals that they shall not have lost all the authenticity upon 
which their verity might depend. The characteristics of mature years are 
always manifested in childhood and adolesence, and it is likewise true that 
the character of the latter mark the former. If this is true also of nations, 
your labors are gathering up data upon which we can speculate as to the 
future, ami not only speculate, but actually interpret with correctness the 
signs of the times, ana" be able to aid the progress of approaching blessings, 
or avert the destructions of threatening mischiefs. But to my business. 

Enclosed vou will receive a copy of a letter from Gov. Dudlev to the 
Rev. Cotton Mather, D. 1)., under date of July 10, 1706. This letter is of 
considerable importance, because Comstock and other geologists, in reference 
to the bones found at Albany, refer to a letter from Cotton Mather to Dr. 
YVoodwartJ, 1712, as the earliest notice. When at Worcester and having, 
til rough the politeness of Mr. Haven, the secretary and librarian of the 
American Antiquarian Society, access to their rooms and also to the very 
large collection of the manuscripts of Cotton Mather deposited there, I 
searched for that letter to Dr. Woodward, but it was not among them. I 
found a letter concerning some bones of an unearthly character found at 
Virginia. The copy of that letter T can not now find., as it is mislaid, and I 
can not with certainty say to whom it was addressed, nor the date. 

[ also found a letter from Gov. Joseph Dudley to Cotton Mather, six years 
earlier than Comstock's date. If you can weave it into your very interesting 
little work, of which we have had a few specimens in the Gazette, you will 
contribute to set to rights another item of history, as you have already done 
in regard to the Glebe school house. Allow me here just to state some 
particulars in regard to the mastodon, of which our county has been so 
fruitful a fountain — in the language of a correspondent—" the centre of 
iossils." 

r«der date of Sept. 10, 1800, Dr. Graham of Shavvangunk, (I believe you 



MASTODON. tl 

knew hiin) in a Jetter to Dr. Satn'l L. Mitchell of New York details the 
earliest facts concerning Mastodontoid remains in this county. The sub- 
stance of that letter is, making Wardsbiidge a centre, he speaks of them 
as being found in 1782, 3 miles S. ; 1794,5 miles W. ; 1800, 10 miles N. E. ; 
1800, 1 mile E., and some others which are not particularized. 

The earliest accounts we have of mastodontoid remains are by Longueil. 
a French officer who found them on the banks of the Ohio in 1739. They 
were then called the bones of the "unknown animal." In 1740 large quan- 
tities were taken from Big bone Lick in Kentucky to France, and received 
the name of " Animal of the Ohio." Mr. Peale and other naturalists gave 
to the bones taken from this county by that gentleman the name of Mammoth. 
Baron Cuiver arranged and classified the genus, and named it from the 
characteristic tooth, "Mastodon," or "Nipple tooth." 

Nine species have been admitted by naturalists ; six of them Avere iutro- 
duced by Cuiver. 

1st, Mastodon Giganteum, and as Prest. Hitchcock, when making some 
public remarks last winler upon the one found on Mr. Brewster's farm, ad- 
ded — "dmericanus." This species is only found in the United States. 

2nd, Mastodon Angustidens — found in the south of France, Germany, 
Tuscany, Switzerland, and South America. 

3rd, Mastodon Cordillerarum — found in Quito, and Chequitos. 

4th, Mastodon Humboldt ii — found at Conception. 

5th, Mastodon Parvus— found in Europe. 

6th, Mastodon Taperoides — found at Montabusard, near Orleans, 

7th, Mastodon Avernensis — in department of Pay de dome, France, in- 
dicated by M. M. Croizet and Jobert Sen. 

8th, Mastodon Lotidens, ) Both indicated and described by M. 

9th, Mastodon Elephantoides, J Clift, and founded upon bones from the 
river Iravvady between Rangoon and Ava. 

Allusion has been made to another species: 

10th, Mastodon Funcencis — found in Switzerland. 

Dr. Hays in his memoirs, presents another and names it. 

11th, Mastodon Borronii — found in Piedmont, and suspects two more. 

12th, Mastodon Cuiveii. 

14th, Mastodon Jeffersonii. 

All the surmises concerning the new genus of Tetracaulodon ha6 been set 
at rest by Dr. Owen. 

I enclose an extract from R. J. Murchison's address touching this point. 
Also a queer speculation taken from Am. Phi. Trans, vol. 4, page 510. 

Letter from Gov. Dudley to the Rev. Cotton Mather, D. J). 

Roxeury, 10 July, 1706. 
Sir :— I was surprised a few dtjys since with a present laid before me from 
Albany by two honest Dutchmen, inhabitants of that city, which was a cer- 
tain tooth accompanied with some other pieces of bone, which being but 
fragments, without any points whereby they might be determined to what 
animals they did belong, I could make nothing of them ; but the tooth was 
of the perfect form of the eye tooth of a man, with four prongs or roots and 
six distinct faces or flats on the tops a little worn, and all perfectly smoothed 
with grinding. I suppose all the surgeons in town have seen it, and I am 
perfectly of opinion it was a human tooth. I measured it, and as it stood 
upright it was six inches high lacking one-eighth, and round 13 inches, lack- 
ing one. eighth, and its weight in the scale was 2 pounds, 3 ounces Troy 
weight. One of the same growth, but not of equal weight, wa6 last year 



78 MASTODON. 

presented to my lord Cornbury, and one of the same figure exactly wa? 
shown at Hartford of near a pound weight more than this. 

Upon examination of the two Dutchmen they tell me the said tooth and 
bones were taken up under the bank of Hudson's river, some miles below 
the city of Albany, about 50 leagues from the sea, about — feet below the 
surface of the earth, in a place where the freshet does not every year rake 
and waste the bank, and that there is a plain discoloration of the ground 75 
feet at least, different from the earth in color and substance, which is judged 
by every body that see it to be the ruins and dust of the body that bore those 
teeth and bones. 

T am perfectly of opinion that the tooth will agree only to a human body, 
for whom the flood only could prepare a funeral : and without doubt he 
waded as long as he could to keep his head above the clouds, but must at 
length be confounded with all other creatures, and the new sediment after 
the flood gave him the depth we now find. 

I remember to have read somewhere a tradition of the Jewish Kabbins, 
that the issues of those unequal matches between heaven and earth at the 
beginning were such whose heads reached the clouds, who are, therefore, 
called Nephelirn, and their issue were Geborim, who shrank awav to the 
Raphaim, who were then found not to be invincible, but fell before less 
men — the sons of the east in several places besides Canaan. I am not per- 
fectly satisfied of what rank orclassis this fellow was, but I am sure not of 
the last, for Goliah was not half so many feet as this fellow was ells long. 

The distance from the sea takes away all pretension of its being a whale 
or animal of the sea, as well as the figure of the tooth : nor can it be any 
remains of the elephant — the shape of the tooth and admeasurement of the 
body in the ground will not allow that. 

There is nothing left but to repair to those antique doctors for his origin, 
and to allow Dr. Burnet and Dr VVhiston to bury him at the Deluge, and if 
he were what he shows, he will be seen again at or after the conflagration 
further to be evamined. I am, sir, your hnmbie servant, 

J. DUDLEY. 

Mr. Joseph Dudley was Governor. 

Memoir on Extraneous Fossils, Am. Phi. Soc. Trans., Vol. 4, p. 510. — 
Read July 21, 1797. (Extract.) 

But judge of my surprise when attentively examining them, I discovered 
that almost every bone of any length had received a fracture, occasioned 
most likely, by the teeth of the mammoth while in the act of feeding over 
his prey. 

It is well known that the buffalo, deer, elk, and some other animals are 
in the constant habit of making such places their resort, in order to drink 
the salt water and lick the impregnated eaith. Now may we not from these 
facts infer, that nature had alioted to the Mammoth the beasts of the forest 
for his food ? How can we otherwise account for the numerous fractures 
which every where mark these strata of bones! May it not be inferred, too, 
that as the largest and swiftest quadrupeds were appointed for his food, he 
necessarily was endowed with great strength and activity ? That as the 
immense volume of the creature would unfit him for coursing after his prev 
through thickets and woods, nature had furnished him with the power of 
taking it by a mighty leap,; That this power of springing to a great dis- 
tance was requisite to the more effectual concealment of his bulky volume 
while lying in wait for prey. With the agility and ferocity of a tiger ; with 
a, body of unequalled magnitude and strength, it is possible ike Mammoth 



MASTODON. 79 

may have been at once the terror of the forest and of man ! And may not 
the human race have made the extirpation of this terrific disturber a common 
cause ? 

The nature and mode of life of the Mastodon were not 
well understood at the date of the above extract, and the wri- 
ter supposed him to belong to the carniverous tace, subsist- 
ing on flesh, m place of the gramniverous, as his teeth abun- 
dantly prove. If he had subsisted on flesh he would have 
been the most destructive butcher that ever drew blood. 

Extract from an Address of Roderick Impey Marchison , F.R.S., before the 
Geo. Soc. of London, Feb. 17, 1843. 

Speaking of the collection of bones obtained by Mr. Koch, he says: — 
The arrival of such a collection could not fail to excite the most lively in- 
terest and curiosity among our naturalists; and the bones having been atten- 
tively examined by many members of this Society, produced a diversity of 
opinion respecting the generic character of the chief remains. North Amer- 
ica bad long been a fertile mine of such reliquiae, and the naturalists of the 
United States had not been backward in studying and dissecting them. It 
is not, therefore, a littie remarkable that the same difference of opinion as to 
the generic and specific identity of the animals' that prevailed across the At- 
lantic, is presented in the menioires which have recently been read before 
us: Dr. lladon and Mr. Cooper having maintained opinions with which to 
a great extent Prof. Owen comes, while Dr. Grant and M. Koch have sup- 
ported the views of the late Dr. Godman, Citing the American authorities 
on his side of the question, including Dr. Hoges, and enumerating no less 
than 13 species of Mastodon and 6 species of Tetracaulodon, Dr. Grant has 
made a vigorous effort to vindicate the true generic characters of the Tetra- 
caulodon, as founded on the presence of a tusk or tusks in the lower jaw, 
and certain variations in the form of the crowns of the molar teeth. 

This view has been sustained by Mr. A. Nasmith in an elaborate paper 
on the minute structure of the tusks of extinct Mastodontoid animals. Mi- 
croscopical examinations of portions of the tusks, believed to belong to five 
distinct species, viz: — M Gigantius, Tetracaulodon Godnrani, T. Kochii, T. 
Taperoid^s, and the Missourium, has also led this author to the same infe- 
rence as Dr. Grant ; and he concludes with the remark, that, if it be establish- 
ed that specific differences positively do exist among all these animals, the 
value of such microscopic researches is great; but if the five animals are 
grouped as one, then such mode of observation is of no value in palaxmto- 
logical science. 

Prof. Owen had previously expressed opinions at variance with those of 
Dr. Hoges, Godman, Grant, and Mr. Nasmith, and his views have been sup- 
ported within these walls by my predecessor, Dr. Bucklove. Pointing out 
certain mistakes in the setting up of the Missourium, as exhibited in Egyp- 
tian Hall, he compares the fossil with all forms with which he was acquaint- 
ed ; and, shewing that it must have belonged to the Unjulata, he judges that 
the enormous tusks of the upper jaw constitute it a member of the Probosci- 
dian group of Pachedumes, and that the molar teeth prove it to be identical 
with Tetracaulodon or M;istodon giganteus. He argues that the genus Te- 
tracaulodon was erroneous, founded upon dental appearances in the lower 
jaw of a very young proboscidian, and that Mr. W. Coope? was correct rrt 
suggesting that the Tetracaulodon was nothing but the young of the gigantic 



80 MASTODON. 

Mastodon, the tusks of which were lost as the animal advanced in age. A 
comparison of the whole of Mr. Koch's collection produced the result in 
Mr. Owen's mind, that with the exception of a few hones of the Eiiphas 
princigenius (Mamoth) all the other remains of the Proboscidian pochydieus 
in it belong to the Mastodon giganteus. And in respect to the Mastodon gi- 
ganteus, he expresses his conviction that it had two lower tusks originally 
in both sexes, and retained the right lower tusk only in the adult male. 

Although unable to form a correct judgement on the probable structure of 
those extinct quadrupeds, I may call your attention to a recent work of Mr. 
Kaup, whose striking discovery of the Dunotherium is familiar to you, and 
who now seems to advocate, from perfectly independent sources of evidence, 
the same views as Prof. Owen, concerning the oxeology and generic char- 
acters of the Mastodon, founded upon the comparison of a series of bones 
and teeth belonging to the Mastodon longirostus, more numerous and com- 
plete than even those of the'Mastodon giganteus. 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

/ 

The present (owns of Newburgh and New Windsor, up to 
1763, were known and designated as the Precinct of the 
Highlands. By virtue of a law of the Governor, Council and 
General Assembly of the Province of New York, previously 
passed, the Precinct of the Highlands was ordered to be di- 
vided into two, — which was executed in that year — one call- 
ed the Precinct of Newburgh, and the other the Precinct of 
New Windsor. 

The surface of the town is highly diversified — stony, and 
broken by high hills, though free from any mountain eleva- 
tion. The direction of the hills partakes of the physical na- 
ture of the County, and runs north and south. The surface 
lies generally pretty high above the water of the Hudson — 
for the Big Pond or Orange Lake, in the western part, is about 
five hundred feet above the river; the water of which can, 
without deep excavation, be carried in a canal to the village 
of Montgomery and poured into the Wallkill. The soil 
along the river is warm, productive and extremely well cul- 
tivated. The fences "which enclose these farms are in good 
condition, the fields clear of stone, free from bushes, and 
smooth as a lawn. The farm houses are neat and well paint- 
ed, and the appearance of the w 7 hole makes a favorable im- 
pression on the traveller. Further west the lands have not 
so deep or warm a soil, and require more laborious culture. 
Passing through this part of the town, and in the vicinity of 
the Lake, we were most agreeably surprised on observing a 
manifest improvement in the general appearance since we 
saw it a few years since. The farms around and in the vi- 
cinity of the Lake are of a fair quality of soil, and in a pro- 
fitable state of agriculture. 

So large a market town as the village of Newburgh, to 
which every agricultural product can be carried in a few 
hours and sold for cash, or transported to the city for a better 
market still, has a stimulating and controlling effect — indu- 
cing the owners to clear up the stony hills and vallies of this 
region, clothe them with grass and grain, and cover them 
with flocks and herds. These localities, though rough and 
forbidding in a state of nature, yet lying weH to the sun and, 

F 



82 TOWN OF NEW BURGH. 

bountifully supplied with water, when once thorougly sub- 
dued and cleared of stone, yield good crops of all kinds. — 
The soil rests on a harder stratum, than other more beautiful 
lands, holds the moisture longer, and is less affected by 
drought, and, for the same reason, requires less manure. — 
These elevations, however, are proper subjects for prepared 
manures, the materials for which abound in tbe vicinity, and 
almost cry aloud upon their owners, for stimulating nourish- 
ment of the kind. Hilly lands are subject to a continued 
drainage of their fertilizing properties, and the rains, dews, 
and snows, which bless and enrich the vallies and low 
grounds, are scarcely felt in their benign influences, compar- 
atively, on these more elevated situations. The hills and 
high grounds are to be fed and taken care of, the lower situ- 
ations are provided for, or will take care of themselves, for 
they receive one half of all the genial fertilizing influences, 
bestowed by man and nature, upon their more elevated 
neighbors. Upon the whole, we are of opinion that this 
Town is rapidly advancing in all the departments of profita- 
ble farming. Few are th leaded throughout, by a greater 
number of creeks and brooks, gently murmuring as they 
wind a devious way to visit and mingle their waters with the 
Hudson. By the Slate census of 1845, the population was 
9,001—4,300 males, 4,701 females— 14 churches, 24 cler- 
gymen, 23 physicians, and 23 attorneys. 

The town took its name from the village of Newburgh, 
and is of Saxon origin. New is from Noow, meaning new, 
not old, and burgh from burg, a corporate town, not a city, 
but such as sends Burgesses to Parliament. Hence Borough 
a town, Burgage a tenure, and Burgess a citizen. The 
Dutch Berg.y means Hill or Mountain, as Dunderberg, Thun- 
der Hill, Catsbcrg, the Catskill Mountains. 

EARLY" SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

From the evidence we have, the earliest settlement was 
on the German Patent, and on t,he present site of the Village 
of Newburgh. The first persons we ;trace there, were the 
nine Palatines, to whom the Patent, wr.s grafited. The pa- 
tent is dated in 1719, but the probabilities are, these individ- 
uals were there before that date. It appears from the intro- 
ductory part of the renewed Patent of which a copy is 
found in our paper — that while Lord Lovelace was Govern- 
or of the Province, he had promised a grant to nine Pala- 
tines of a tract of land above the Highlands, in pursuance of 
an instruction from Queen Anne, or letter from her Secretary 



TOWN OF NEWBITRGH. 83 

ol 'State. As they had the promise of Lovelace, Governor at 
the time, the fair presumption is, they were here at the date 
of the promise. Lord Lovelace, it is .true, lived but a short 
time in command of the province, (from December till the 
succeeding- May,) after his arrival ; yet this was in the year 
1708. After his deatli the Government devolved upon Rich- 
ard Ingoldsby, the Lieut. Governor, and it was not till 1710 
that Governor Hunter, mentioned in the charter as having 
done nothing about it, arrived in the province. He left in 
1719, and the command of the province devolved on Col. 
Peter Schuyler, who, as President of the Council, caused the 
patent to be issued. From this we conclude the Palatines 
were here as early at least as 1708, and that the true date of 
settlement was about this time. The names of these nine 
Palatines were George Lockstead, Michael Weigand, Her- 
man Shoreman, Christian Henreiche, Cockertal, 

Burgher Mynders, Jacob Webber, Johannes Fisher, and An- 
dreas Valch. These men are called Palatines in the patent, 
and we think they came from the Palatinate of Newburgh in 
Germany. This presumption is strengthened by the fact, 
that they called the place of the settlement Newburgh. It 
was very natural and common to call the place of settlement 
after a place of the same name where they came from in 
Europe. There are several places in Get many called New- 
burgh ; one in the Palatinate of Newburgh on the Danube, 
which is said to have been a fortified town in the time of Ju- 
lius Ceesar. There is another on the East bank of the Rhine 
in Swabia, from which some are of opinion they came. — 
There is no certainty about it, and we incline to the opinion 
above expressed. At the time they came, and at the date of 
the Patent in 1719, the site of Newburgh, and indeed all the 
land covered by the Patent, was called Quassaick, from a 
tribe of Indians of that name, then residing there. What is 
now called Chambers' Creek was then called Quassaick 
Creole. 

There is no certainty how long the Palatines remained on 
the Patent-; but they had sold out their grant, and departed 
in 1752, the date of the Patent renewed by Gov. Clinton. — 
They left between 1708 and 1752. While here, they made 
a settlement ; designated a site of a village ; called it New- 
burgh, and laid out, as we have always understood, but two 
streets only; one at the North, called South street, which 
runs up the Academy hill South of the Glebe ; and the other 
at the South of the village, extending to the New Mills, the 
West bounds of the Patent, and now occupied by the New- 



84 TOWN OF NEW BURGH. 

burgh and Cochecton Turnpike Road, These streets show 
the good sense and sagacity of those early settlers, for they 
anticipated the growth of a large and busy city, and laid out 
their streets on a magnificent plan, eight rods or 132 feet 
wide. 

The next class of settlers we find on the Patent, were those 
to whom the Palatines sold out their titles, and who petition- 
ed the Colonial Governor, Clinton, to renew the Patent to 
them, on the ground of owning the title, and that the Pala- 
tines had left, with other reasons. This we learn from that 
instrument itself. Their names are set forth in the Patent, 
and they may be considered the second generation of men 
on this locality. Their names were Alexander Colden, 
Richard Albertson, Edmund Conklin, Jr., William Ward, 
Thomas Ward, Nathan Truman, Jacob Wandell, Johannes 
Wandell, Daniel Thruston, James Denton, Cahlass Lever- 
idge, Michael Demott, William Smith, Henry Smith, Dun- 
can Alexander, and William Mitchell. These individuals 
generally, must have sold out their titles at an early period 
after 1752, and removed, for we believe there is not one 
scarcely of the name owning lands on the Glebe, or residing 
on the Patent. We recognise no family descendents of these 
men here, unless it be that of Mr. Albertson. These in turn 
gave way to another class of purchasers ; and their descend- 
ents, who now own and possess the lands of the Patent, and 
who may be, with much propriety, considered the third gen- 
eration that :;ive owned them since divested of their native 
forests. 

Dubois' Mills. — In 1753 Jonathan Hasbrouck, the grand 
father of the present Jonathan Hasbrouck, Esq., and who 
built the old stone Hasbrouck House in 1750, became the 
owner of Lot No. 1 nnd 150 acres of No. 2, on the German 
Patent. The Western portion of this purchase embraced 
Quassaick, now Chambers'', Creek, upon which he erected 
a Grist Mill. At what lime it was built, we do not know, 
but from all we can learn, it is thought, to be the oldest Mill 
in this part oi i!ie country. Mills of every description doubt- 
less induced settlers to locate near them, or in the vicinity, 
and usually caused an early settlement in a new country. — 
Such was the fact in this case. The Western portions of 
Lots No. 1 and 2 were devised by Jonathan Hasbrouck to his 
son Corneliu;, and after several transfers, came to be the 
property of Gen. Nathaniel Dubois, the present proprietor, 
who has owned them for upwards of forty years. 



TOWN OF NEWBTJR6H. 85 

The family of Dubois is French. They were Huguenots, 
and first settled in Ulster County. 

Gidneytown. — The district of the town called Gidneytown 
was a spot settled quite early, accomplished at the same time 
and in an extensive manner. Eleazer Gidney, we believe 
of French descent, came to this country and located at the 
Saw Pits, and from there removed with his family to this 
town. At the time he had several children. Here he pur- 
chased 1,300 acres of land, settled four of his sons upon it, 
and built a house for each. The names of these sons were 
Joseph, Daniel, David, and Eleazer. Eleazer had a son of 
the same name, who was the father of Capt. Jonathan Gid- 
ney, Dr. Gidney, and brothers. This first settler had his 
four houses framed at Saw Pits, transported them and sat 
them up on the 1,300 acres. After this was accomplished 
he returned to Fiance on business of a personal nature, 
where he died. Before leaving the country, he had made a 
large purchase of land at New Haven, now covered in part 
by that city, which was lost to the family by his death. 

Eleazer the 2d, and grand father to the present generation, 
with his wife, one child, and horse, were drowned crossing 
(he Hudson at New Windsor. He was returning from Saw 
Pits, where he had received §700 or $800 in cash, which 
was lost at the same time. The ferry boat was upset in a 
squall, and caused the death of all onboard, except the fer- 
ry-man. Mr. Gidney was a good swimmer, but lost his life 
in the humane effort to save that of his wife. He left two 
children, Winford and Eleazer. The part of this original 
purchase which came to Eleazer the 2d and 3d, is still in 
the possession of their descendents — Eleazer, Isaac, Chaun- 
cy B., and Charles S. Gidney. 

The farm located by Daniel is now owned by Mr. Kissam. 
The one located by Joseph, by Mrs. David Hunter, who was 
the daughter of Nathan Smith, Esq., from whom she receiv- 
ed it ; and the one located by David is owned by Mr. Peter 
Tillett. 

We have no means of determining the time when the first 
settlement was made, but it was at least four generations 
since. Mr. Eleazer Gidney, the father of Capt. Jonathan 
Gidney, built the mill at this location, which is still in oper- 
ation ; and we are told by the family that when the old house 
of Eleazer was repaired a few years since, the timbers were 
found as sound as when put up. The timber is spruce. 

This individual, when a boy of sixteen or eighteen years 
of age, went out with the militia two or three times during 



86 TOWN OF NEWBURGH- 

the war to Mombacus and other places along the mountain.-, 
against the Indians. Such boys always make men valuable 
to the country and reliable in the hour of danger, and deserve 
a special remembrance in the annals of the Republic. He 
died April 9, 1830, aged seventy-one years, in a good old 
age — regretted by all who knew him as a worthy citizen, 
and lamented by a numerous family. He was the father of 
twelve children, — and his cousin, Daniel Gidney, deceased, 
of the same number. 

We must not condemn Mr. Gidney for doing a foolish act 
when he framed his four houses at Saw Pits, brought them 
here and set them up. It must be recollected, his four sons 
were married and had families — that they were planting 
themselves in an unsettled region, where there were no mills 
to saw the timber of the locality — that workmen were few, 
difficult to be procured, and that the time of the year may 
have been pressing. The place at which they were made 
was old settled — had all the conveniences to enable the fam- 
ilies to execute the work — and Mr. Gidney, doubtless a man 
of means, — and transportation neither difficult nor expensive 
— the whole transaction may have been both judicious, time- 
ly and economical. Such things transpire in our day, for 
we know the parsonage house of the 1st Presbyterian Church 
in the village of Montgomery was framed in Newburgh and 
carried out there in w r agons, and put up in 1844. Why this? 
The timber was cheaper in Newburgh, and the individual 
who had the contract, with his workmen, lived there. 

In 1776 the timber to build barracks at Poplopen's Kill, 
and houses for laborers while erecting Forts Clinton and 
Montgomery, was taken from this County and transported 
there on the ice from New Windsor. The old frame house 
which stood on the bank of the turnpike, at the dug-way as 
it enters the village of Newburgh, was framed at Montgome- 
ry, brought down and set up there. 

In the division of some lands in the patent belonging to 
the Millers and Van Keurens, the choice of lots was given to 
the owner who erected the first house. Mr. Miller had 
means, negroes, and workmen, and secured the choice of 
lots by the erection of that frame. Before an individual can 
be condemned for any act that appears unusual, and not ac- 
cording to the ordinary transaction of affairs, we must know 
the whole case, and the exact condition of circumstances cal- 
culated to control and produce it. 

The district of country along the public highway from the 
village of Newburgh to Marlborough was among the earliest 






TOWN Or NEWBURGH. 87 

settled portions of the town. The land is principally in the 
patents to Harrison and Wallace. At the brook beyond Pow- 
elton Mr. William Bloomer, the ancestor of the families of 
that name, resided in 1776 ; but whether the first settler of 
that name we cannot say. He was a blacksmith, and con- 
ducted that business.. 

At Balmville Michael Demon lived as early as 1764, and 
kept tavern, and the town meeting's were occasionally held 
at his house. He had a number of children, among whom 
were William, Jacohus and Isaac, who inherited the estate, 
consisting - of several hundred acres. It passed out of his 
hands to a Mr. Ellis, in New York, from whose heirs Mr. 
Daniel W T ilson purchased. 

Further north were the Dentons — James, Thomas and Gil- 
bert. These were here in 1764, at the organization of the 
town. Their father was the first settler of the name. Their 
lands are now in part owned by Mr. F. J. Betts. 

Above them was Burrows Holmes as early as 1763, and 
one of the first path masters of the town. 

Next to him was Samuel Fowler, the father of Samuel 
Fowler, the Methodist minister of the last generation, a very 
devout and pious man — also in 1763. 

Next were the fathers of Arthur Smith, Esq., and Jehiel 
Clark. Their fathers purchased their lands together at 17s. 
6d per acre, and divided. 

Next above these were Gilbert Purdy and Luff Smith. — 
Some of the Purdy lands are owned by Mr. Wood, and lie in 
the village of Middlehope. Within a few years past Timo- 
thy Wood has erected one of the most beautiful residences on 
this road. But we must cease our particularity and remark, 
that Wolvert Acker owned the lands afterwards possessed by 
Capt. Armstrong, on the banks of the river. The farms that 
we have referred to were long and narrow, and generally 
ran through the patent east and west to the river. They are 
now in a fine state of agricultural improvement — very differ- 
ent in appearance from what they were at the time we speak 
of. They were located and improvements made on them by 
the settlers above named as early as from 1730 to 1750, — for 
at the first formation of the town, in 1763, these names ap- 
pear on the records ; and this district of country seems then 
to have been quite populous. During the war Marlborough 
was quite a village, and some of the Whigs fled there from 
New York. 

The earliest deed we have seen for a purchase in the dis- 
trict we have been speaking of, was from William Elsworth,. 



#8 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

of the Precinct of the Highlands, to Samuel Stratton, of the 
same place, for one hundred and forty acres, dated in 1753. 
The deed was shown us by Mr. Samuel Clark, of Middlehope, 
a descendant of Jehiel Clark, the first settler of that name, 
and now owns the lands. Mr* Elsworth was not a patentee, 
but a second-hand purchaser. 

Rossville must have been settled about the same time, — 
This is in Wallace's Patent, which was small — only 1900 
acres. Joseph Penny purchased the whole patent and settled 
it chiefly with his children. He had seven sons — John, 
William, Robison, Joseph, Peter, James, Allen, and -a daugh- 
ter, Nelly, who never married-. 

Mr. Penny sold two hundred or three hundred acres to 
Robert Ross, the father of William and Alexander Ross. — 
Mr. Ross was a tanner and shoemaker, and during - the war 
conducted the business to some profit. He first built a log 
house and then established his yard and shop. He subse- 
quently, and before the war, perhaps as early as 1760, built 
a stone house, which is still standing - , and makes a part of 
the present residence of Mr. Adderton, who owns the family 
residence The yard was standing- and vats open when Mr. 
Adderton 'ook possession, since the death of Alexander Ross, 
and were filled Up. by him* We are informed that no part 
of the original purchase made by Mr. Penny is in the posses- 
sion of his descendents. That by Mr. Ross has passed out of 
his family. If this is true, it is rather singular that so much 
land — a whole patent — and owned by an individual who had 
seven grown up sons to settle and cultivate it, should in one 
century have passed out of the possession of his descendents. 
We have not met with another case in the County. 

The ancestors of Daniel Tooker, Esq., and of Daniel Mer- 
ritt, Esq., in this vicinity, are among the oldest in this part 
of the town ; their names are on the records at its early or- 
ganization. Both appear to have been active and influential 
men, for we find them frequently in office. Mr. Underbill 
Merritt, the father of Daniel Merritt, Esq., came by accident 
to a most horrible death, in November, 1804. His neighbor, 
Mr. Caleb Fowler, had a frolic, drawing wood, and Mr. Mer- 
ritt was among the number assisting him. After being load- 
ed and on his way to Mr. Fowler's, he was walking by the 
side of his wagon, and in an attempt to get on, as was sup- 
posed, his feet caught in the lines, which started his horses 
and threw him under the wheel of the wagon, which ran 
over his arm and head. His arm was broken in two places, 
and his brains crushed so that they laid in the road. When 



TOWN OF NEWBURGI-I. 89 

those in company came up he was found dead in that situa- 
tion. Mr. Merritt was an honest, industrious and respecta- 
ble ckiuen. What added interest to this truly distressing 
and melancholy incident was, that a Mr. Hoffman, from 
Esopus, who cut the tree which composed this load of wood, 
was killed in cutting it. The tree fell on him and injured 
him so that he died before the day of the frolic. This tree 
was cut up and piled by itself, and no one would draw it away 
till Mr. Merritt being asked to do it, freely consented. The 
others refused out of a superstitious belief that some addition- 
al fatality would attend its drawing. Unfortunately Mr. 
Merritt apparently realized the truth of the presentiment of 
his neighbors. 

Mr. Alexander Ross, whom we have previously named, 
continued to reside en his paternal estate during his life, and 
died some twenty years since. He was esteemed by his 
neighbors as an honest and upright citizen, and discharged 
the duties of several civil and military offices. William 
Ross, his brother, was educated to the law, and practised in 
the village of Newburgh. For many years lie conducted an 
extensive and lucrative business in his profession. Though 
not a well read or deep thinking- lawyer, nor yet. well versed 
in the technical rules of special pleading, he so managed as 
always to have in his employ, or associated with him in bu- 
siness, those who were competent to manage and safely con- 
duct the various and oftentimes difficult and abstruse cases 
of law and equity committed to his care in the business of 
his profession. Mr. Ross did not possess a legal mind' — it 
was too scattering, diffusive and undisciplined for concentra- 
ted thought, or clear continued conception of difficult ques- 
tions. Things pertaining to a legal case, which laid on or 
near the surface and within the grasp of ordinary minds, he 
saw clearly, and would seize, apply and explain them with 
great power, and declaim for a moment in the most eloquent 
and masterly manner ; but was incapable of confining his 
mind and undivided attention to a close chain of argumenta- 
tion through a case involving difficult points of law. His 
mind was better calculated for a jury than the bench. Per- 
haps the estimate of his legal abilities might have been high- 
er if he had been compelled to cultivate and apply his talents, 
which certainly were not below mediocrity, for we have 
heard him utter some of the prettiest ideas that ever fell from 
a public speaker. 

Mr. Ross for many years, in the early part of his life, was 
as deeply engaged in politics as in law, and fully as inttueft,-. 



90 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

l.ial. He happened to be on the right side — stepped in when 
the flood tide was strong 1 , and rode most qallantly on its top- 
most waves. There was a time when his influence was ab- 
solutely supreme in the County. No man in it had greater 
with his party, and he always turned it to his personal ad- 
vantage. Whether thecircumstances and. condition of things 
which surrounded his party and gave it a paramount con- 
trol in the County and State, or Mr. Ross himself, by force 
of his own talent, created the personal influence of which 
we speak, we are too uninformed particularly to assert. We 
have heard it said that he was vain of his supposed personal 
influence at home and abroad ; but of this those who knew 
him best were most competent to judge ; we pass it by as if it 
were a slander. 

Mr. Ross was free and open-handed, and among the num- 
ber who aimed to improve the village and forward the true 
interest of the State and society at large. As a friend and 
neighbor, obliging ; and if you deposited your confidence in 
his personal exertions and influence while a member of the 
State Senate, he would exert them strongly in your cause. — 
He held many honorable and responsible official stations as 
a politician through a long period of years, and generally 
discharged their duties with the fidelity of a politician, and 
in a manner acceptable to his party and friends. The latter 
portion of his life was not as pleasant and full of sunshine as 
the earlier part, and seemed to be embittered by pecuniary 
embarrassments and worldly afflictions of some kind, of 
which we are not sufficiently informed to speak. 

We name but one additional locality in this part of our 
paper. The vicinity of Orange Lake was- partially settled 
quite early. The first man we trace there was Mr. Moose ; 
but who he was, where from, and when he located, are 
wholly covered up by the lapse of time. It would seem he 
abided sufficiently long to give his name to the pond. He 
probably left or died without descendents. William Wear, 
the ancestor of William Wear, Esq., settled close on the 
western margin of the Lake, while James Waugh, Robert 
Waugh, and the Beatty family, were located in the vicinity. 
All these last, named signed the pledge tendered them by the 
government in 1775, and mentioned more particularly here- 
after. It was not till after the war that Capt. Machen and 
the Crowell family located here 

We can only name and point to a few localities of early 
settlement in each town, and leave the reader to settle and 
populate the residue. To be moire particular would fill our 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 91 

paper and make a book of tbe early settlements of the Coun- 
ty. The individuals last named, except Machen, were Irish. 

From the view taken of the town, pointing to its early and 
later settlements, from the- names of the petitioners on the 
renewal of the patent in 1752, — and from the list of the 
whole inhabitants of the town in 1785 — which we place be- 
fore the render — the conclusion is imperative that the town 
was settled by emigrants from England. Some of them 
doubtless came from thence here directly, while others on ar- 
riving in the country settled in the Eastern States, on Long 
Island, in the Counties of N.. York, Westchester and Dutch- 
ess, and from these removed, at various periods and came to 
this town. 

The first settlement doubtless was made by the Lutherans, 
on the German patent, as early at least as 1719 ; but as they 
removed in a body without leaving one descendant behind, 
after a short residence and before 1752, we consider them out 
of the question as early settlers of the town. They only 
clcared, as it were, the foundation for a location on a farm of 
two thousand acres, densely clad with timber, and then left, 
without striking a blow or turning a furrow beyond the lim- 
its of the patent. Of the nationality of the petitioners for the 
renewal of the patent in 1752, asking the proceeds of the 
glebe lands for the support and maintenance of the establish- 
ed church, there can be no question. These, with others on 
the patent, and in a few scattered spots in the town, perma- 
nently located with their descendents, must be considered 
among the first settlers. The names of these appear in the 
patent and on the early town records, and some of their 
names are still found in the town. The families of Belknap, 
Rogers and Birdsall, are among the number of those who 
came here from the Eastern States after a residence there for 
longer or shorter periods. We do not wish to be particular 
or tedious in our remarks on the subject, and only mention 
these as examples of a class of emigrants, to which the reader 
may add any number his information on the subject warrants. 

Some of the early settlers were of Dutch descent, with a 
few Huguenots originally from France. Of this class the 
Hasbroucks, Demotts, Slutts,. Devines, Devolls, Degroves, 
Duboises, Hardenberghs, Snya'ers, Terwilligers, Bensaotens^ 
&c, may be named as samples, whose families in many in- 
stances are yet here. The Hasbrouck family were here very 
early, and at least thirteen years before the organization of 
the town in 1763. The old' stone house was built ir* 1750. 



92 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

The iirst town meeting was held in it, and Jonathan Has- 
brouck was elected the first Supervisor. 

Among the early settlers Ireland was but partially repre- 
sented — if we judge by the names found on the records at 
that period. If by them we judge of nationality, we men- 
tion the families of Waugh, Robinson, Sly, McCollum, Den- 
n is ton, Wear, Ireland, Burnet, Batic, Crowell, Ross, &c, 
as emigrants to the town from the Emerald Isle. 

Wc call the reader's attention to these few cases of excep- 
tion from the operation cf the general rule of settlement, 
which we have stated to be almost wholly English. Any 
person well acquainted with the names peculiar to different 
European nations, on looking over the lists now laid before 
the reader, would instantly affirm the general truth of our 
declaration. Here we leave the subject as too obvious for 
further remark. This plan we intend to pursue when in 
our power, to ascertain by whom the towns were originally 
settled, and the national character of the early emigrants. By 
gathering up the names of the old town residents we think 
we can furnish the means for every reader to judge in a great 
measure for himself, and not rely on the declarations of our 
paper, while at the same time we preserve a roll of easy re- 
ference for the descendents of these hardy and patriot men 
to consult at leisure. We do not wish one name to be lost 
or blotted from memory. Thev are all dear to the country 
and valuable now, and will increase in interest with every 
revolving age, as time consecrates their remembrance to 
their childrens' children. 

EXTRACT FROM TOWN RKCORDS. 

At a Precinct meeting at the house of Cap. Jonathan llasbvouck, for the 
Precinct of Newburgh, the first Tuseday in April], in the year of our Lord 
one thousand seven hondred and sixty-three, according to an act of Assem- 
bly for that purpose. 

Samuel Sands, Clerk. 

Capt. Jonathan Hasbrouck, Supervisor. 

Richard Marker, ) 

Jesse Windiicld, > Assessors. 

Samuel Wiatt, ) 

David Gidney, Constable. 

Henry Smith, Collector. 

Joseph Gidney, ) p „ ■ 

Benjamin Woobey, ) ™ or MaSter& - 

John McCrary, "i 

John YVandal, 

Burras Holmes, [ „ ., M 

Isaac Fowler, f Path Masters. 

' Humphrey Meiritt, | 
Thomas Woobey, J 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 93 

,' y I ! Fence Viewers and appraisers of damages. 

Lenard Smith chose to collect the quit rent, the patent he now Jives on. 
Then adjorned to the hous of Capt. Jonathan Hasbrouck. 

1764. — The town officers were-— 

Samuel Sands, Clerk. 

Lewis Dubois, Supervisor. 

Nehemiah Denton, ) 

Henry Tarbush, [Assessors. 

Peter Ostrander, ) 

Samuel Winslow, Constable and Collector. 

Daniel Thustern, / t, , t 

Michael Demott, j Poor Master8 ' 

Cornelius Wood, ] 

Martin Weygant, 

Leonard Smith, 

Henry Smith, sen. )• Path Masters. 

Gilbert Denton, 

Edward Hallock, 

Benjamin Carpenter, j 

Samuel Sprague, "1 

Henry Smith, | 

Jehiel Clark, )■ Pounders. 

David Purdy, 

Isaac Fowler, J 

1767. Silas Wood, Constable, and to take his fees from Isaac Smith's 
house. 

1768. It is agreed on by Stephen Case and Micajah Lewis, candidates 
for Constable, that whoever of them is chosen Constable for the year insu- 
ing, that they will appoint two deputies to serve under them, such as shall 
be agreeable to the inhabitants, — such deputies to have full fees for what 
they serve, and shall be obliged to give to the Constable surety, &c, and 
shall serve his turn in tending our general Court. 

1769. "Voted, at annual meeting, that the sum of £30 be raised for the 
support of the poor for year insuing. 

That Martin Weygant be Pounder for the German patent and all adjoining . 

1771. Rule first. — Vo^d, as an encouragement to all succeeding Poor 

. masters, the more faithfully to discharge their duty in their office, by pre- 
venting all unnecessary charges and needles? costs on the inhabitants of the 
Precinct, and also as a reward for their good service, we freely vote them 
the sum of £1 10 each, &c. 

Uule third. — That no Poor master for the time being shall for any cau?c 
whatever, relieve or cause to be relieved, or made chargeable, any person 
or persons whatever, that may by lav/ he transported ; cr any private per- 
son can be made accountable for according to law, on pain of perjury, and 
making themselves liable to pay all such charges, and forfeit to the use of the 
poor twenty shillings and charges of prosecution, to be recovered before 
any of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, &c. 

1772. And it is voted, that the Assessors shall have for their serving the 
purrs of £1 4 each, provided they go to every man's house and make the en- 
quiry of their substance, and they are not excused of working on the road. 

£30 voted to support the poor. 



94 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

1773. Voted that £50 be raised to support the poor, and Poor masters 
have £2 10. 

1777. Voted, £100 be raised for the poor. 

1778. Voted that any person that shall take cattle to keep on the com- 
mons of this Precinct, from persons out of another Precinct, shall be subject 
to be assessed for them, &c. 

Voted that the donations collected in this Precinct be applied to such poor 
whose husbands or parents were either killed or taken prisoners at Fort 
Montgomery, &c. 

That £200 be raised for the poor, — and that Poor masters may hire mo- 
ney, &c. 

'We do, that is we, the subscribers, solemnly swear raid declare, in the 
presence of Almighty God, that wc will bear true faith and allegiance to the 
State of New York, as a free and independent State, and that we will in all 
things, to the best of our knowledge and ability, do our duty as good sub- 
jects of the said State ought to do— so help us, God. (Signed) Tho. Pal- 
mer, Isaac Belknap, Joseph Coleman, Jacob Lawrence, Cor. Hasbrouck, 
Benj. Birdsall, David Handmore, Sand Stratton. 

(These persons appear to have been town officers for that year.) 

1780. Voted that £800 be raised for the poor. 

This sudden rise in the poor lax no doubt was caused by 
the war and the taking of Fort Montgomery, which caused 
great distress and sufiering among the families of the militia 
men. 

Jonathan Belknap, in June, 1787, freed his black man, 
Peter, and the Justices, Wolvert Acker and Benj. Carpen- 
ter, certified him to be under fifty years old, and of compe- 
tent ability to take care of himself. This was the first act of 
the kind on record. 

1790. Town meeting. 

The following Rules were handed in by Abel Belknap, Esq., wishing 
them adopted : 

Whereas the business of town meeting has been done in the greatest dis- 
order, much to the dissatisfaction of the good people of the town, to the end 
that they may be held in good order, &c, Ordered, 

1st. That with permission of the Justices of trte Peace, we will choose 
one Moderator, as an assistant, &c. 

2nd. That the Justices and Moderator and Clerk take their teats; at the ta- 
ble, and allow no other person to sit or stand by the table. 

3rd. That all the people take seats, and when they speak must rise and 
stand. 

4th. But one person shall speak at a time ; if more than one rise at ones 
the Moderator to determine who has the rif^ht, and no other person to make 
;l noise or speak while he is speaking. 

5th. No drink of any kind be drank or brought into the meeting while 
the people are on business, except water. 

6th. There shall be no jesting nor joking with a view to make laughter 
und sport. 

7. That if any person or persons shall refuse to comply with these rules, 
after approved by the meeting, he or they shall suffer such rebukes and ad- 
monitions from the Justices as they shall judge best for the first offence : 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 



95 



and for the second, the Judges shall order him or them to be turned out of 
the meeting by the constable, and kept out till he give good security for his 
good behavior for the future. 

These wholesome and sensible resolutions were adopted. 

Up to 1785 the Record does not state the names of the in- 
dividuals assessed on the rc-ad'districts, but the names of the 
overseers only. This year those individuals are named on 
the nineteen road districts into which the town was divided. 
These names show the whole population at the time. In of- 
fice this year — 

Benj. Birdsall, Moderator. 

Daniel Birdsall, Clerk. 

Thomas Palmer, Supervisor. => 

Richard Wood, Constable ; John Belknap, Security; Joseph Bloomer and 
John Jerovv, Evidences. 

John Belknap, Samuel Stratton, Keuben Tooker, Joseph Coleman, Robert 
Boss, Assessors. 

Daniel Hudson, Benj, Birdsall, Poor-masters. 

Cap. Isaac Belknap, Isaac Fowler, jun., Joseph Sherwood, Wm. Coduing- 
ton, John Fowler, Com. of Roads. 

Martin Wygant, David Cue, David Belknap, Arthur Smith, Pound-masters. 

Martin Wygant, Abel Belknap, Win. Lawrence, Committee to settle with 
0. Poor. 

John Robinson, Abel Belknap, Robert Waugh, George Gardiner, Robert 
Carscading, Maj'r Pcddingle, Silas Gardiner, James Lyons, Samuel Griggs,^ 
Theophilus Mosher, Samuel Divine, Win. Conklin, Arthur Smith, Johannis 
Cosman, Johanis Snyder, John Stratton, John Thomas, Wm. Cope, George 
Merrit, John Sniffen, ^Path-masters. %-, 



George Stanton, 
Win. Stanton, 
Richard Ward, 
Nath'l Coleman, 
Sam'l Bond, 
Joshua Burnet, 
John Simpson, 
Win. Russet, 
Nehemiah Taylor, 
Gilbert Edmonds, 
Robert Pool, 
Jon'n Norris, 
Sam'l Weed, 
Martin Wygant, jun. 
Robert Brockway. 
.Benj. Knap, 
John Jeffries, 
Samuel Coleman, 
Joseph Bond, 
Samuel Gardner, 
Joseph Gidney, sen. 
Joseph Gidney, jun. 



PERSONS ASSESSED. 

Wm. Gidney, 
Timothy Lockwood, 
Elisha King, 
George Devoll, 
Wm. Ward, 
Doct.. Morrison, 
Richard King, 
Cornelius Wood, 
Derick Amermaji, 
Win. Tiumper, ' 
George Westlake, 
Saml. Wr-stlick, 
Jeremiah Goldsmith, 
William Belknap, 
Caleb Chase, 
Cornelius Ilasbrouck,, 
Francis Harlbrd, 
Samuel Sands, 
Joshua Lockwood., 
■Black Peter, 
Robert Baty, 
Kami. Slie, 



John Shay, 
George Shay, 
Charles Denniston, 
Tho. Dinks, 
Richard Hudson, 
Henry Gei alderman, 
Thomas Donolly, 
Jas. Guthery, 
Wm. Wilson, 
Joseph Perry, 
William Albertson, 
Martin Wygant, 
Elnathan Foster, 
John Graham, 
Henry Smith, 
Thomas Smith, 
Allen Rogers, 
Burger Wygant, 
Haunse Cosman, 
Gilbert Kniffen, 
Thomas Merrit, * 
Isaac Merrit, ' 



96 



TOWN OF KEWBURGH. 



Charles Kniffen, 
Daniel Kniffen, 
Isaac Fowler, 
Klias Lyons, 
Thomas Ireland, 
John Kniffen, 
Stephen Ireland, 
Daniel Gillis, 
Timothy Wood, 
David Raynolds, 
James Wearing, 
Herman Chase, 
James Owens, 
James Harris, 
Wm. Weer, 
Henry Evens, 
Joshua Brush, 
Jno. Trumper, 
Benj. King, 
Clement King, 
Jonathan Cosman, 
Ruleph Cosman, 
John Whitead, 
Archihald Elliot, 
Nicholas Watts, 
Robert Ross, 
John Dolsan, / 
David Guion, 
Zebulon Robinson, 
Joseph Penny, 
Jonas Totten, 
Wm. Dunn, 
Caleb Lock wood. 
Ebenezer Raymond, + 
Wm. Pennv, 
Cornelius Polhamus, 
rosua G. Adsmith, 
Enoch Coddington, 
Jno. Pel knap, 
Jonathan Belknap, 
Jno. Parsbal, 
Patrick Burnet, 
Saml. Hallock, 
Jno. Clark, 
Jno. Winnens, 
Benj. Woodhull, 
David Belknap, 
Francis Baty, 
Wm. Bishop, 
Jonathan Belknap, jun. 
Joshua C 
Reuben Hoh 
Daniel Aldridge, 
Frederick Hedly, 



Peter Snider, 

Benj. Burling, 

John Rump, 

Rob. Cooper, 
/Thads. Smith, 
(^Albertson Smith, 

Cap. Webb, 

Wm. Lawrence, ■»- 

Isaac Belknap, sen. 

Daniel Birdsall, 

Wm. Birdsall, 

Benj. Raw, 

Benj. Birdsall, 

John Smith, 

Benj. Lawrence, - 

Isaac Belknap, jun. 

James Denton, 

Nathan Tapper, 

Dennis Heins, 

David Howell. 

John Anderson, 

Adolph Degrove 

Benj. Smith, 

Aaron Fairchild, 

John Caird, 

Walter Dubois, 

Jno. Dubois, 

Moses Bears, 

Wm. Lawrance, jun. 

Cap. Cooper, 

L. Dodge, 
CRichard Alberson, 

Wm. Nichols, 

Jno. Redman, 

Old Mr. Cropsey, 

Rheuben Cropsey, 

Edward Howell, 

Richard Wood, 

Gushem Curren, 

Tomas Dennisen, 

Daniel Hudson, 

Edward Franklin, 

Jesse Smith, 

James Martin, 

Wm. Gardner, 

GengeHowel, 

Stephen Stilwill, 

Wm. Bloomer, 

Wm. Palmer, 

Isaac Brown, 

Thomas Palmer, ■* 

Joseph Coleman,. 

John Warren, 

Benj. Coffin, 



Hugh Steveson, 
James Patteson, 
Lewis Dunevon, 
Eleazer Gidnev, 
Wm. Collard," 
Wm. Maloy, 
Wm. Bullard, 
Daniel Gidney, 
Wm. McRania, 
Joseph Hollet, 
David Downing, 
Isaac. Benscoten, 
Abraham Smith. 
Jonathan Brundage, 
Azael Smith, 
Henry Lockwood, 
Peter Aldridge, 
Jacob Concklin, 
Abraham Stricklen, 
Ebenezor Stricklen, 
Jacob Stricklen, 
Abraham Cole, 
Abraham Cole, jun. 
Henry Yenes, 
Robert Aldridge, 
Cornelius Terwilliger, 
Zebulen Raynolds* 
Uriah Drake, 
John Camble, 
Robert McCollum, 
Nathaniel Divine, 
Solomon Dean, 
Stephen Case, 
Isaac Demott, 
James Denton, 
George Merrit, jun. 
Saml. St ratten, 
John Allen, 
Jno. Garret, 
Hollet Jones. 
Soleinen Utter, 
Wm. Buckingham, 
Wm. Scott, 
Gilbert Purdy, 
Ming Purdy, 
Henry Woolsev. 
Wm. "Smith, 
David Smith, 
Lewis Slutt, 
James Quigly, 
Garret llanlenburgh, 
Jacob Hal stead, 
Jno. Fitzpatrick, 
Stephen Stepher.ui",. 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 97 

Marvel Slutt, Saml. Wandel, Selah Reaves, 

David Redman, Thomas Ward, < ^ John Roe, 

Stephen Jones, Wolvert Acker, ^\ Benj. Dean, 

Mathen McCollum, Tho. Cambel, Gilbert Aldridge, 

Wm. Snider, Benona Laltimore, Gilbert Jones, 

Jno. Snider, Wm. Wite, Bnrres Holmes, 

Joseph Wilson, Saml. Pribble, Saml. Fowler, 

Isaac Fowler, sen. Stephen Wardell, Saml. Fowler, jun. 

Daniel Tooker, . Wm. Ward, Francis Smith, 

Jno. Fowler, Daniel Fowler, Richard Torres, 

Daniel Thursten, Jacob Camis, Nathl. Drehmun. 

It is worth noticing, that in these three hundred and four- 
teen names, embracing- the whole male population of the 
town, there is but one double name. They did not wish to 
be encumbered with such worthless vanities. Tempora mu- 
tanter in hoc. 

REVOLUTIONARY PLEDGE. 

When the Provinces had firmly resolved to resist and de- 
fend themselves against the oppressive acts of the English 
Parliament, they anticipated a division of public sentiment 
on the importance and success of a measure which was to in- 
volve the whole country in a war with the mother country. 
They also foresaw that the instant they took up arms, made 
resistance, and fired the first gun, they would thereby throw 
off, to some extent, allegiance to the British government 
dissolve the laws which governed them, and place the Colo- 
nies in a condition of confusion and anarchy. To guard the 
country as much as possible against a state of things so omi- 
nous of danger, to bind all who were well disposed to the 
cause and its vigorous prosecution in a bond of union, and at 
the same time find out and know with certainty its lukewarm 
friends and open enemies — all which were of the utmost mo- 
ment — the freemen, freeholders and inhabitants of the city 
of New-York, on the 29th of April, 1775, adopted a general 
association, and transmitted it for signature to all the coun- 
ties in the State. This was intended as a direct test of every 
man's sentiments and patriotism respecting this momentous 
movement of the Colonies ; for if he signed the Pledge hie 
will would be known and the country could depend on him ; 
and if not, he would be equally known and marked. This 
plan was made general, adopted throughout the Colonies, 
and at once drew a line' of no enviable distinction between 
the friends and enemies of the war. The Pledge was in the 
following form : 

Persuaded that the saltation of the rights and liberties of America depend, 
under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants in a rigorous prosecutfon «f 

G 



38 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 



the measures necessary for its safety; and convinced of the necessity of 
preventing anarchy and confusion, which attend the dissolution of the pow- 
ers of government, we, the freemen, freeholders, and inhabitants of , 

being greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to raise a reve- 
nue in America, and shocked by the bloody scene now acting in Massachu- 
setts Bay, do, in the most solemn manner, resolve never to become slaves; 
and do associate, under all the ties of religion, honor and love to our coun- 
try, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever measures may 
be recommended by the Continental Congress or resolved upon by our Pro- 
vincial Convention for the purpose of preserving our Constitution, and op- 
posing the execution of the several arbitrary Acts of the British Parliament, 
until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America on constitutional 
principles (which we most ardently desire) can be obtained ; and that wo 
will in all things follow the advice of our Genera! Committee respecting the 
purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and the safety 
of individuals and property. 

Having - no feeling's of ill-will or revenge to gratify against 
those who refused to sign the Pledge and defend the country, 
now, as the storm is over and gone, the ship safe and gal- 
lantly riding at ease on her moorings, we shall not name 
them in our paper, but cannot forego the patriot satisfaction 
of placing before our young readers the names of those who 
did pledge themselves, fortunes and sacred honor, before God 
and men, to defend her in her extremet'necessity, and abide 
the uncertain issue of an unequal contest! We ask the de- 
scendants of these venturesome and thar'dy patriots to' look 
over the list, and when they find some kindred name upon 
which the eye delights to rest, to swear like him to live and 
like him to die in a kindred cause when the country calls. 

SIGNERS IN NEWBURGIf, ORANGE CCUJvTY. 



Col. Jona Hasbrouck, 
Thomas Palmer, 
Isaac Belknap, 
William Darling, 
Wolvert Ecker, 
John Belknap, 
John Robinson, 
Saml. Clark, 
Benj. Birdsall, 
Benj. Smith, 
James Waugh, 
Abel Belknap, 
Moses Higby, 
Henry Cropsey, 
Win, Harding, 
Joseph Belknap, 
John Stratton, 
Lewis Holt, 
Samuel Hallock, 
Samuel Sprague, 



Nicholas Stephens, 
Johannis Snider, 
Benjamin Robinson, 
Andrew Sprague, 
Thomas Beaty, 
Solo. Buckingham, 
>Wm. Bowdish, 
Jonathan Belknap,^ 
Jacob Tremper, 
Abraham Smith, 
Cornelius Wood, 
John Lawrence, * 
George Hack, 
John Shaw, 
Cornelius Hasbrouck, 
Isaac Demott, 
David Smith, 
John Stratton, 
Absalom Case, 
Joseph Dunn, 



John Tremper, 
■ Charles JVillet. 
Jeremiah Dunn, 
Wm. Law ranee, * 
Robert Waugh, 
Wiggins Conklin, 
Robert Beaty, jun. 
Abt'm Johnson, 
Silas Sperry, 
James Clark, 
David Mills, 
Caleb Coffin, 
James Harris, 
Tho. Hagaman, 
Wm. Dunn, 
Nehemiah Carpenter, 
Leonard Smith, 
Wm. Day, 
John Wandle, 
Abel Thrall. 



TOW* OF NEWBUaett. 



99 



Burroughs Holmes, 

Sam'l Bond, 

Thomas Cambell, 

James Cosman, 

Lewis Clark, 

Jonathan Svvett, 

Reuben Tooker, 

David Belknap, 

Daniel Birdsall, 

Robert Lockwcod, 

Benj. Knap, 

Saml. Wcstlake, 

JosiahWard, 

Silas Gardner, 

Jacob Gillis, 

Wm. Kencaden, 

James Denton, 

John Foster, t - 

Hope Mills, 

John Cosman. 
Wm. Weir, 
Thomas Fish, 
Wm. Lavvrance, jun.- 
John Kernoghan, 
Robert Han mer, 
Robert Ross, 
John Crowle, 
Obadiah Weqks, 
Francis Hanmer, 
Wm. Bloomer, 
Abraham Garrison, 
James Ma rston, 
Samuel Gardiner, 
Aiming Smith., 
Richard Albertson, 
Benj. Lawrence*. 
Richard Buckingham, 
Jacob Morewise, 



Daniel Morewise, 
Jonathan Owen, 
Jehiel Clark, 
Reuben Holms, 
Nath'l Coleman, 
George Leenard, 
Elnathan Foster, 
Neal McLean, 
Wm. Palmer, 
Martin Wygant, 
Wm. Foster, 
Wm. Wilson, 
Wm. Stillwell, jun. 
Peter Donally, 
Charles Tooker, t^ 
Leonard Smith, jun.. 
Henry Smith, 
James Wooden, 

Thomas Smith, 

Caleb Chase, 

David Green, 

John Stillwell, 

Lull Smith, 

John Gates, 

Benj. Darby, 

Israel Smith, 

Thads. Smiths- 
Jacob Myers, 

Samuel Concklin, 

Isaac Brown, 

Peter Tiiton,, 

John Donaghy*. 

Ste Stephenson, 

John Griggs, 

Saml. Smith, 

Jeremiah Ward, 

Wm. Ward, 

Wm. Russel, 






Phineas Corwi*, 
Moses Hunt, 
Samuel Sand, 
Jacob Concklin, 
Joseph Price, 
John Saunders, 
George Westlake, 
Burger Wygan, 
Tunis Kester, 
Hugh Quigly, 
Daniel Darby, 
Isaac Brown, jun. 
Hezekiah Wyatt, ^_ 
Wm. Whitehead, 
Daniel Goldsmith, 
Gabrel Travis, 
Nathaniel Weed* 
John Weed, 
Daniel Duboice, 
Arthur Smith, 
Isaac Fowler, 
Stephen Outman, 
Samuel Slratton, 
Joseph Darpenter, 
Daniel Thurstin,. 

John Fow.'er, _. 

Daniel Clark, 
Tsaac Donaldson,, 
Wm. Conck"lin, 
Charles Tooker, ,— • 
John Smith, | 

Isaac Fowler, jtjn, 
Wm. Wright, 
Wm. White, 
Daniel Knifien,. 
Rob. Morrison, 
John Dolson,./ k' 
Leonard Lewis. 



The following persons refused to join the Association,, yet 
on the 14th day of July, 1775, swore to abide by the mea- 
sures of the Continental Congress, and discourage the spirit 
of opposition which too unhappily prevailed in some parts of 
the country, &c. This oath was in writing, subscribed by 
the parties, and given to the Chairman of the Committee*. 



James Leonard,. 
George Harding, 
John Truesdill,. 
Daniel Gidney, 
Stephen Wood, 
Thomas Ireland, 
Daniel Hains, 



David Reynold^. 
Samuel Dewine, 
Isaac Barton, 
Gabriel Traverse, 
Saml. Fowler, 
Jonas Totten, 
Daniel Denton, 



James Denton, 
Gilbert Purdy, 
George Merritfr, -» 
John Flavelling. 
John Wiggins, 
Abel Flavelling, 
Antho. Beetel Bruak 



100 TOWK OF NEWBURGH. 

The President of the Committee who presented the paper 
for signature was Wolvert Ecker, and on making his return 
to the President of the Provincial Congress accompanied it 
with a letter, which, for its expressive and determined char- 
acter, we copy : 

At a meeting of the Precinct of Newburgh, on Tuesday, the 6th of July, 
1775, in compliance with a resolve of the Provincial Congress of New- York, 
requesting us by the 15th of this instant to make a return of the Associa- 
tion, together with those who have not, — we lament, gentlemen, that it is 
our unhappiness that there is such a number of the latter, and a number 
among them who are the most daring, presumptuous villians, often threaten- 
ing lives, properties and individuals, damning Congress and Committees, 
declaring they will join the enemies if opportunity presents, and by the gen- 
eral spirit they discover, we conceive ourselves exposed to their bloody 
principles, unless some method can be fallen upon for the preventing them 
in carrying into execution their wicked design, — which we submit to your 
wisdom, conceiving ourselves safe under your wise protection. Enclosed 
you have a list of the names of those that have associated and those that 
have not. By order of the Committee. 

WOLVERT ECKER, Ch'n. 

To Peter V. B. Livingston, President of Pro. Congress. 

p 

Since we are on this subject, we give a case, and proba- 
bly one of the kind referred to by Mr. Ecker, fork happen- 
ed in his own neighborhood and under his own nose as a 
member of the Committee of Safety. We are sorry to state 
that the individual in question was one of those who, though 
they refused to join the Association^ took and subscribed the 
oath before mentioned. 

Die Veneris, Jan'y 12, 1776. — In Committee of Safety : 
Ulster County. — Stephen Seymour, of full age, being sworn on the holy 
Evangelists this 4th day of Jan'y, 1776, saith that on Monday evening, the 
first inst., at the house of Daniel McGiden, he heard Samuel Devine repeat- 
edly drink damnation to the Congress and all the Whigs; that last year was 
Whig year, but this would be Tory year; and likewise that all Ihe Whigs 
would be hanged in the spring; and furthermore called the Whigs a pack of 
damned rebels — and further saith that he would not obey his officers mora 
than he would a dog. 3 , 

Ulster County — Henry Lockwood, of full age, being duly sworn, &c, 
?aith that on his way home from Newburgh he met with some persons, 
among whom was a certain Samuel Devine, who then asked him if he did 
not know there was a reward for taking up a Committee man and sending 
him on board the man-of-war ; who then threatened to take this deponent, 
he being one of the Committee of Marlborough Precinct, and that he would 
have £-10 in cash, or 50 acres of land, for delivering him on board the man- 
of-war, &c. 

We are aware of the great number of names we spread 
upon our paper, but it must be recollected we write local 
history for the benefit chielly of the citizens of Orange, and 



VILLAGE OF KEWBURGH. 101 

are of opinion it will answer the design of our paper better 
than another course, and be unobjectionable to the families 
named. If therefore any reader should be so malicious as to 
say of our work that it is a book of names as the Hon. John 
Randolph of Ronoake said of the picture of the Declaration of 
Independence by Trumbull, that it was a picture of legs, he 
will please to recollect that he was not the author of this iron- 
ical witticism, for we have said it before him. We wish to 
honor the dead by instructing and gratifying the living. 



I 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 
GERMAN PATENT. — GRANTED 1719 — RENEWED 1752. 

George the Second, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, 
France and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, &c, to all 
to whom these presents shall come, greeting : Whereas our 
loving subjects, Alexander Colden and Bichard Albertson, 
trustees, and Edmond Conklin, jun., William Ward, Thomas 
Ward, Nathan Furman, Jacob Wendall, Johannes Wandel, 
/Daniel Thurston, James Denton, Cohlass Leveridge, Michael 
Demott, William Smith, Henry Smith, Duncan Alexander, 
and William Mitchell, (he other proprietors and inhabitants 
of a tract of land above the Highlands at a place called Quas- 
saick, now commonly called Newburgh Patent, in Ulster 
County, by their petition presented to our trusty and well-be- 
loved George Clinton, Captain General and Governor-in- 
chief of our Province of New-York and territories thereon 
depending in America, Vice Admiral of the same and Admi- 
ral of the White squadron of our fleet in council, therein set- 
ting forth that while Lord Lovelace was Governor of our said 
Province, he had promised, pursuant to an instruction from 
the late Queen Anne, (or a letter from the then Secretary of 
State,!) a grant to nine Palatines of a tract of land above the 
Highlands, at a place called Quassaick, and accordingly the 
same was surveyed by the then Surveyor General, and laid 
out into nine lots for them with a glebe of 500 acres for their 
minister — the whole tract containing 2190 acres : But no- 
thing further was done therein during the life of Lord Love- 
lace nor during the government of Brigadier Hunter ; but af- 
ter his departure from this Province, Col. Peter Schuyler, 
then President of the Council, on the 18th day of December, 
1719, by letters patent bearing that date, granted eight of the 
lots so laid out to eight ef the said Palatines and their fami- 
lies, and the ninth lot to one Burgher Mindertse, a black- 



102 TILLAGE Or HEW BURGH. 

smith, who had purchased a right of one of the said Palatines', 
and by the same letters patent granted to Andries Valch and 
Jacob Webber and their successors forever, as trustees, for the 
benefit of a Lutheran minister, to have the care of souls of 
the inhabitants of the same 2190 acres of land, a glebe of 500 
acres of the same tract — to hold the said glebe to them as 
first trustees during their natural lives, and their successors 
forever. But for the sole use of a Lutheran minister to have 
the care of souls of the inhabitants of the same 2190 acres, 
and upon death or absence of the trustees or their successors, 
it should be lawful for all the inhabitants of the same tract 
being male and above the age of twenty-one, to meet upon 
the glebe land and by a majority of votes to elect other trus- 
tees in the room of the dying or removing, which persons so 
chosen should be trustees of the said glebe lands. 

And further granted, that the said trustees and their suc- 
cessors forever thereafter should be one body politic and cor- 
porate in fact and name, by the name of the Trustees of the 
Palatine parish by Quassaick, and by that name to sue and 
be sued, &c, with power to the Trustees for the time being to 
lease the said glebe lands or any part thereof, but for no 
longer term than seven years at any one time, and by the same 
grant one pepper-corn only per annum was reserved as a quit 
rent for the said 500 acres of land. Which grant of the said 
glebe lands, the said petitioners conceive, w T as in order to en- 
courage other Palatine families to settle and improve other 
racant lands near to the aforesaid tract. But so far was it 
from having the effect intended, that, some time after the 
passing of the said grant all the said Palatine families sold 
their several lots in said tract to the said petitioners and those 
under whom they claim, and they, with the aforesaid Trus- 
tees, removed to the County of Albany or some other parts. 
That the said Trustees being so removed, the male inhabi- 
tants of the said tract above the age of twenty-one years, on 
the 23rd day of June, in the year of our Lord 1747, met upon 
the said glebe land and by a majority of votes elected the said 
petitioners, Alexander Colden and Richard Albertson, Trus- 
tees of the said glebe land, who took the possession thereof. 
But as the said petitioners are all English Protestants, the 
grant of the said glebe, if confirmed to the use of a Luthe- 
ran minister only, would be useless ; and the said petition- 
ersare advised and conceive that if the Palatines had contin- 
ued on the aforesaid tract, and they or their descendents had 
conformed to the Church of England, they might have call- 
ed and chosen a minister of the Church of England to have 



TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 103 

the care of the souls there, who could in that case have had 
the benefit and use of the aforesaid glebe lands, and that if 
the said Palatines could have done so consequently our own 
natural born subjects may do the same who now by purchase 
succeed the said Palatines in the rights they had in the same 
lands. And further setting forth that the Trustees of said 
glebe lands having power by the said grant to lease the said 
lands for no longer time than seven years, prevents the same 
being improved or of that advantage that might be, had 
they power to grant 300 acres thereof forever in acre lots, 
reserving no less than five shillings for each acre as a rent 
forever, which rent would in part support a Protestant min- 
ister and schoolmaster to have the care of souls and the in- 
struction of the children of the said petitioners and the neigh- 
boring inhabitants, and the remaining 200 acres thereof 
would be sufficient for settlements for such minister and 
schoolmaster. And had the said petitioners power to hold a 
fair on the said lands on the second Tuesday in April and 
October annually, it would not only be an advantage to said 
petitioners, but to all the inhabitants of that and the neigh- 
boring counties ; and thereof praying to have our grant and 
confirmation of the aforesaid 500 acres of land to the present 
Trustees, and their successors, to be chosen pursuant to the 
directions of the aforesaid grant, with such further powers 
and under such regulations and restrictions as to our said 
Governor and Council should seem proper. 

And whereas the said Alexander Golden and Richard Al- 
bertson, as Trustees as aforesaid, by their deed-poll, bearing 
date the 15th day of March now last past, did, with consent 
of the proprietors and inhabitants of the said tract, surrender 
and yield up unto us the aforesaid grant so made by the afore- 
said letters patent so far as relates to the aforesaid glebe of 
500 acres of land, and incorporation of said Trustees, as by 
the said deed-poll now remaining on record in our Secreta- 
ry's office, in our Province of New York, may more fully ap- 
pear. And we, being willing to grant the request of the said 
petitioners — Know ye, that of our especial grace, certain 
knowledge, and mere motion, we do by these presents, for 
us, our heirs and successors, will, ordain, constitute, confirm, 
give and grant, that the said Alexander Colden and Richard 
Albertson and their successors, to be elected and chosen as 
hereinafter is directed, be, and from henceforth and forever 
thereafter shall be and remain, one body corporate and poli- 
tic in fact and name by the name of the Parish of Newburgh, 
and them and their successors by the name of the Trustees 



104 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

of the Palish of Newburgh one body corporate and politic in 
fact and name really and fully. We do, for us, our heirs and 
successors, erect, make, ordain, constitute, confirm, declare 
and create by these presents and by that name they shall 
and may have perpetual succession, and also that they and 
their successors by the said name of the Trustees of the Pa- 
rish of Newburgh be, and forever hereafter shall be, persons 
able in law to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, 
answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended, in 
all courts and places, before us, our heirs and successors, and 
before all or any of the judges, justices, officers and minis- 
ters of us, our heirs and successors, and elsewhere in all man- 
ner of actions, writs, complaints, pleas, causes, matters and 
demands whatsoever and of what kind or nature soever, as 
any of our other leige subjects of said Province being persons 
able and capable in law, can or may sue and be sued, im- 
plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, de- 
fend and be defended, by any lawful ways and means what- 
over. And further, we have given, granted, ratified and 
confirmed, and do by these presents, for us, our heirs and 
successors forever, give, grant, ratify and confirm unto the 
aforesaid Alexander Colden and Richard Albertson, Trustees 
of the Parish of Newburgh aforesaid and their successors for- 
ever, to and for the benefit and behoof of a minister of the 
Church of England as by law established, to have the care 
of souls of the inhabitants of the before recited tract of 2190 
acres of land, and of a schoolmaster to teach and instruct the 
children of the said inhabitants, the aforesaid tract of 500 
acres of land so granted by the before recited letters patent 
to Andreus Valch and Jacob Webber, situate, lying and be- 
ing in Ulster County aforesaid, between the lots No. 5 and 6, 
and is bounded northerly by lot No. 6, now belonging to 
John Wendell, southerly by lot No. 5, now belonging to the 
heirs of James Smith, deceased, easterly by Hudson's River, 
and westerly by lands formerly granted to JohnSpratt, togeth- 
er with all and singular the woods, underwoods, trees, timbers, 
feedings, pastures, meadows, marshes, ponds, pools, waters, 
water courses, rivers, rivulets, runs and streams of water, 
fishing, fowling, hunting and hawking, mines and minerals, 
standing, being, growing or lying, or to be had, used and 
enjoyed within the limits and bounds of the said 500 acres 
of land in manner aforesaid described, and all other profits, 
benefits, liberties, privileges, hereditaments and appurtenan- 
ces to the same belonging or in any way appertaining, and 
all our estate, right, title, interest, claim and demand what- 



VILLAGE Or NEWBURGH. 105 

soever of, in or to the same, and the reversion and the re- 
versions, remainder and remainders, and the yearly rents 
and profits of the same, excepting and always reserving - out 
of this our present grant and confirmation unto us, our heirs 
and successors forever all such fir trees of the diameter of 24 
inches at 12 inches from the ground roots as are or shall be 
fit to make masts for our royal navy, as also all such other 
trees as are or shall be fit to make planks or knees for the use 
of our said royal navy, only which now are or hereafter shall 
be standing, growing or being In or upon the said 500 acres 
of land or any part thereof, with free liberty and license for 
any person whatsoever by us, our heirs or successors, cr any 
of them, to be thereunto appointed and authorsed under our 
or their royal sign manual, with workmen, horses, wagons, 
carts and carriages, or without, to enter or come into the said 
500 acres of land and every part thereof, and there to fell and 
cut down, root up, hew, saw, rive, split, have, take, cart and 
carry away the same masts, trees, planks and knees for the 
uses aforesaid ; and also excepting all gold and silver mines, 
to have and to hold the aforesaid tract of 500 acres of land 
and premises with the hereditaments and appurtenances, un- 
to the aforesaid Alexander Colden and Richard Albertson as 
first Trustees of the Parish of Newburgh aforesaid during 
their natural lives and residence on the aforesaid tract of 2190 
acres, and their successors forever ; but to and for the proper 
use, benefit and behoof of a minister of the Church of Eng- 
tand as by law established, to have the care of souls of the 
inhabitants of the aforesaid tract of 2190 acres of land, and of 
a schoolmaster to teach and instruct the children of the afore- 
said inhabitants and their successors forever, and to no other 
use whatever. 

And for the perpetual preservation and confirmation of the 
aforesaid trust, and the better improvement of the said tract 
of 500 acres of land to and for the use aforesaid, we do like- 
wise give and grant that upon the death, disability or absence 
of the same Alexander Colden and Richard Albertson or 
either of them, or of any of their successors, it shall and may 
be lawful to and for all the inhabitants of the aforesaid tract 
of 2190 acres of land, being males and above the age of 21 
years, to assemble and meet together at any time or times 
hereafter upon some part of the said tract of 500 acres of land 
and by a majority of voices to elect and choose other Trustee 
or Trustees in the room and stead of such Trustee or Trustees 
so dying, removing, or otherwise disabled, which Trustee or 
Trustees so chosen hereafter shall be Trustee or Trustees of 



106 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

the Parish of Newburgh aforesaid to all intents and purpose* 
as if they had been herein mentioned, for the ordering and 
management of the said 500 acres of land. And we do here- 
by further give and grant unto the said Alexander Colden 
and Richard Albertson, the present Trustees of the Parish of 
Newburgh, and their successors, full power and authority to 
lease or grant for any term of years, for lives or forever, 300 
acres of the said 500 acres of land, to be laid out in lots of 
one acre in each lot, reserving the annual rent of five shil- 
lings for each acre lot at the least, to be paid to the said Trus- 
tees for the use and benefit of such minister and schoolmas- 
ter as aforesaid, and that the remaining 200 acres of the said 
500 acres of land, after reserving a sufficient quantity for a 
church and cemetery or church-yard, shall forever hereafter 
be and remain for and as a glebe for the use of a minister of 
the church of England as by law established, to have the 
care of souls of the inhabitants of the said tract of 2190 acres 
of land, and of a schoolmaster to teach and instruct the 
children of the inhabitants of the said tract, in such propor- 
tions as the said Trustees shall think meet, proper and con- 
venient ; and that the said Trustees and their successors for- 
ever hereafter, with the consent of the major part of the free- 
holders of the aforesaid tract of 2190 acres of land, being re- 
sident thereon, shall and may from time to time, and as often 
as the same shall be vacant, call, choose and present a good 
und sufficient minister of the Church of England as by law 
established, to officiate upon the said glebe and to have the 
care of souls of the inhabitants of the aforesaid tract of 2190 
acres of land, and to nominate and appoint a good and suf- 
ficient schoolmaster to teach and instruct the children of the 
said inhabitants. Provided, always, that such minister shall 
be instituted and inducted in such manner as shall be meet, 
suitable and agreeable to our instructions to our Governor of 
our said Province of New- York for the time being. 

And we do hereby further grant to the said Alexander Col- 
den and Richard Albertson, and their successors, Trustees of 
the Parish of Newburgh, free and full liberty and license to 
hold and keep a public fair upon said tract of 500 acres of 
land on the second Tuesdays in April and October in every 
year forever hereafter, where as well all the inhabitants of 
the aforesaid tract of 2190 acres of land as those of the neigh- 
boring settlements and counties, and all other persons what- 
soever, may buy and sell any horses, sheep and neat cattle, 
or any goods, wares and merchandise whatsoever, without 
paying any toll or other fees for the same. And we do here- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 107 

by also will and grant that the aforesaid tract of 500 acres of 
land is to be holden of us, our heirs and successors forever 
in free and common leaseage as of our manor of East Green- 
wich, in the County of Kent, within our realm of Great Bri- 
tain, yielding, rendering and paying therefor yearly and ev- 
ery year forever unto us, our heirs and successors, or unto 
our or their receiver general for the time being, at our cus- 
tom house in the city of New-York, on the first day of the 
annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary, commonly called 
Lady Day, the sum of twelve shillings and six pence, in lieu 
and stead of all other rents, services, dues, duties and de- 
mands whatsoever for the said tract of 500 acres of land so 
granted as aforesaid ; provided, always, and these presents 
are upon this condition, that the said Trustees of the Parish 
of Newburgh, and their successors, shall do wilhin the time 
and space of three years now next ensuing the dale of these 
presents, plant, settle and effectually cultivate at least three 
acres of every fifty acres of the same tract of land so as afore- 
said granted, which are capable of cultivation, if the said 
Trustees, their successors or assigns, or any of them, or any 
other person or persons, by his or their privity, consent or 
procurement, shall set on fire and burn the woods on the 
same lands or any part thereof, so as to impair or hinder the 
growth of any of the trees there that are or may be fit for 
masts, plank, knees, or other timber fit for the use of our 
royal navy, that then and in either of these cases, this, our 
present grant, and every article and clause therein contain- 
ed, shall cease, determine and become void,- anything in 
these presents to the contrary thereof in anywise notwith- 
standing. Declaring, nevertheless, that nothing in these 
presents reserved or contained shall or ought to be construed 
to extend or be meant or intended to prohibit, or in anywise 
hinder the said Trustees of the Parish of Newburgh, their 
successors or assigns, or any of them, from such burning of 
the woods or cutting down or falling of the trees that now 
are or hereafter shall be growing or being on the above grant- 
ed lands or any part thereof, as shall be necessary or con- 
ducive to the clearing and effectual cultivating of the said 
lands or any part thereof, or to or for their or any of their 
use or uses. And we do further declare, that by the said 
burning of woods is only meant and intended that the said 
Trustees of the Parish of Newburgh, their successors and as- 
signs, are to be restrained only from setting fire to and burn- 
ing any timber or trees whilst they are standing and growing 
upon the above granted lands or any part thereof. 



108 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

And we do likewise declare, that the reservation of all the 
trees of the diameter of 24 inches and upwards at 12 inches 
from the ground, for masts for our royal navy, and of such 
other trees as may be fit for planks, knees and other things 
necessary for the use of our said navy, is not nor ought to be 
construed to hinder the said Trustees of the Parish of New- 
burgh, their successors or assigns, from clearing and effectu- 
ally cultivating the above granted lands or any part thereof. 
And we do hereby will and grant that these our letters be 
made patent, and that they and the record of them in our 
Secretary's office, of our Province of New-York, shall be 
good and effectual in the law to all intents and purposes, not- 
withstanding the not true and well reciting or mentioning of 
the premises or any part thereof, or of any former or other 
letters patent or grant for the same, made or granted by us 
or any of our royal ancestors or predecessors, to any other 
person or persons, body corporate or politic whatsoever, to 
the contrary hereof in anywise notwithstanding. 



In testimony whereof we have caused the great seal of our Province of 
New York to be hereunto affixed, and these presents to be entered on 
record in one of the books of patent in our said Secretary's office re- 
maining. 

Witness our said trusty and well-beloved George Clinton, Captain 
General and Governor in chief of our said Province of New 
York and territories thereon depending in America, Vice Admi- 
ral of the same, and Admiral of the White Squadron of our 
Fleet, in Council at Fort George in New York, this 26th day 
March, in the 25th year of our reign, &c, Anno Domini 1752. 



PARTITION OF GERMAN PATENT AMONG PATENTEES. 

Granted in 1719 and contains 2190 acres. According to 
the recitation in the new patent, when the glebe of 500 acres 
was renewed to Colden and Albertson, as Trustees, in 1752, 
it had been previously divided among the original patentees. 
The following was that division among the nine Palatines, 
who, before 1752, had sold out their shares and removed to 
the county of Albany and elsewhere, as the said recitation 
states. The lots were long and narrow, running west from 
the river through the patent, numbered from south to north. 

To George Lockstead and children, No. 1, 250 acres. 

Michael Weigand and children, 2, 250 do. 

Herman Shoreman, 3, 100 do. 

Christian Hennicke, 4, 100 do. 

The Widow Cockertal, 5, 250 do. 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 109 

To Burgher Mynders, No. 6, 100 acres. 

Jacob Webber, 7, 200 do. 

Johannes Fisher, 8, 100 do. 

Andries Valch, 9, 300 do. 

Andries Valch and Jacob Webber, as Trustees 

for the Church, for a glebe, between lots 5 and 6, 500 do. 

For Highways, 40 do. 

2190 

Lot No. 1. — This lot, with 150 acres of No. 2, was sold by 
the patentees to Nathan Smith — by him to Wm. Brown — by 
him to Alexander Colden — and by him to Jonathan Has- 
brouck, the grandfather of Jonathan Hasbrouck, Esq., in 1753. 

The residue descended to Henry and Thomas Smith, and 
was subsequently purchased by James Renwick, who laid 
out the east part of it adjoining the river into streets and 
blocks — sold a few lots, and conveyed the remainder to George 
Gardiner, Esq. Henry Robinson, the present owner, subse- 
quently purchased it. The lot known as Tremble's Mills 
is a part of lot No. 1, and sold to Tremble by Gardiner. 

The western part of lots No. 1 and 2 was devised by Jon- 
athan Hasbrouck to his son Cornelius, and after several trans- 
fers came to Nathaniel Dubois, Esq., and now constitutes his 
farm. His milling and other manufacturing establishments 
are upon it. 

No. 2. — The south half of the north half of this lot was 
sold by Weigand, one of the patentees, to Wm. Burnet, and 
after several transfers it came to Alexander Colden, who, in 
1753, sold it, together with the west part of Nos. 1 and 2, to 
Jonathan Hasbrouck. 

The north one-fourth of No. 2 was sold by the patentees to 
Burgher Mynderst, from whom it was puichased by Jona- 
than Hasbrouck. 

No. 3. — The patentees sold this lot to James Alexander, 
from whom it was purchased by Alexander Colden and Bur- 
gher Mynderst, except two acres at the north-east corner. — 
They divided it by an east and west line, Colden taking the 
north and Mynderst the south half. Mynderst sold out to 
Jonathan Hasbrouck, and Colden's half was sold out in small 
lots. 

No. 4 — was sold by the patentees to Wm. Burnet, from 
whom it was purchased by Cadwallader Colden for himself, 
Jacobus Bruyn, James Alexander, Phineas Mcintosh, Dan- 
iel Denton, Michael Dunning and Henry Wildman, who di- 
vided it, and is known as the Old Town of Newburgh plot. 

No. 5. — This was sold by the patentees to Silas Smith, 



110 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

from whom it descended to his son, James Smith, from whom 
it descended to his son, Benj. Smith, who sold the west part 
to Thomas Woolsey, and in 1782 laid out the east part into 
streets and blocks, under the name of Washington. At the 
death of Smith his property descended to his children, Wm. 
L. Smith, Catharine Tudor and Abigail Hind. 

Proceeding north we come to South-street, beyond which 
is the 500 acres of glebe land, extending up (o North-street. 
As before remarked, the glebe was surveyed in 1794, and 
the Trustees began to execute leases to such tenants as pur- 
chased. 

The following are the names of some of the early tenant* 
of the glebe, some of whon resided on it and others not: 

Samuel Sand, Henry Don, Robert Morrison, William Albettson, Isaac 
Belknap, Doct. Morrison, Wm. Ward, Charles McCoy, YVnv MjUer, David 
Conner, Joseph Albert.son, Joshua Sand, Thaddeus Smith, Robert Crawford, 
Martin Wygant, Wm. Collard, Wm. MeloyT Benjamin Case, William Sey- 
mour, Samuel Winslow, Robert Carscadden, Jonas Denton, Samuel Denton. 
Thomas Watters, AlexancfeFBrown, James Tidd, Thomas Maral, Abel Bel- 
knap, Isaac Brown, Fredrick Smith, Thomas Mackin, Nathan Smith. 

Lots 6, 7, 8, 9 are north of the glebe, and though the east- 
ern parts of them, in the vicinity of the river and along the 
public highway, which formerly was called King-street, are 
somewhat cut. up into small lots, yet the western parts remain 
in large parcels, and are used for farming purposes. As it 
is difficult for a reader fully to understand these divisions and 
subdivisions without a map of the premises, we dismiss a fur- 
ther notice of the German patent, and make a few remarks 
on the glebe portion of it. The distinction between the pa- 
tent at large and that part, 500 acres only, must be continu- 
ally borne in mind. 

Since we have introduced the patent, we may as well con- 
clude here what we have to say in relation to the glebe por- 
tion of it, though it may be out of its proper order. By such 
course we think the reader will be benefitted, as he will have 
that subject fresh and in a connected order all under his at- 
tention and before his mind at once. 

THE GLEBE. 

The grant for the glebe was renewed (after the Palatine* 
left the patent) in 1752 to Alexander Colden and Richard 
Albertson, as Trustees, who, in execution of the trust, divi- 
ded the 500 acres, and assigned one acre for a church lot,, 
one acre for a burying ground, 100 acres for a minister's loU 
100 acres for a schoolmaster's lot, and the remainder of tho- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. Ill 

500 acres to be rented out and rents appropriated under the 
provisions of the charter. This division was subsequently 
disregarded, and the whole 500 acres leased out and the rents 
appropriated in pursuance of the act of the Legislature of 
1803, which broke up and remodeled the charter, and gave 
another direction to the rents — to the Glebe School and 
Academy. 

The Glebe was subject, to an annual rent for the support of 
the minister and schoolmaster; and in 1794 was resnrveyed 
and leases issued to tenants under the charter, according to 
this last survey. 

The yearly rent on the lands west of a certain street called 
King-street was to be not less than five shillings sterling per 
acre, and east of thatstreet not. less than six shillings per acre. 
These rates the Trustees had power to fix by the charter. 

The north suburb of the village is now on the Glebe, and 
the rents are growing more valuable every year under the 
present mode of renting lots. The rent is not estimated and 
charged by the acre, but by the lot, where it is cut up in lota 
less than an acre, and is $1 annually on every lot. The 
whole amount now realized is rising $500. 

One of the conditions of the charter was the establishment 
and support of a Lutheran Church ; but this was rendered 
unnecessary after they left, and was assigned by the peti- 
tioners asj the reason for its renewal in 1752, in favor of the 
Episcopal or established church of England, which was then 
substituted for the Lutheran, subject to the same benefits and 
obligations. The Episcopal Church entered into the posses- 
sion of the Glebe lands, and for years executed the conditions 
of the charter renewed in its favor ; that is the inhabitants 
or such of them as were of the established church supported 
an Episcopal minister as far as their limited means enabled 
them and elected trustees. They also kept a school on the 
Glebe in the old Glebe school house, and held an annual 
fair, which has been discontinued for more than half a cen- 
tury. 

The management of the Glebe lands and rents, with the 
appropriation of the rents, were by the charter to be under the 
direction and management of two trustees, elected by all the 
inhabitants of the German Patent. In the course of time 
and settlement of the village after the war of the Revolution, 
the established church having lost its power and influence 
among the people fell into disrepute, and other denominations 
became the most numerous. The effect of this was, the Pres- 
byterians became the strongest in numbers, and elected true- 



112 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

tees, who refused to appropriate yearly any of the Glebe 
rents towards supporting an Episcopal minister. They, 
however, kept up the free school as directed by the charter. 

But to explain and be more particular. The Episcopalians 
remained in possession of so much of the Glebe as was set 
apart by the Trustees under the charter to the minister, 100 
acres, from 1753 down to the Revolution, and until 1785 or 
6, as appears from the case made by the proofs in their law 
suit hereafter mentioned. They had built a Parsonage house 
before 1775, and Mr. Spering was employed as the minister 
till as late as 1785 or 6. We are not well advised of the ex- 
act state of the case, and who exercised authority over the 
Glebe from this time down till about 1800, whether it was 
trustees elected by the Episcopalians or trustees elected by 
other denominations. In 1803 the Legislature, upon petition 
of the inhabitants of the Patent, passed an act which among 
other things directed the trustees of the Glebe to pay $200 of 
the rents to the trustees of the Academy, and the residue to 
the trustees of the Glebe school, and that 3 trustees be elected. 

In 1804 Selah Reeve, John D. Lawson, and Isaac Bel- 
knap, jr. were trustees, and they issued the following notice : 

Notice. — The time of payments for rents due on Glebe Lands, in the vil- 
lage of Newburgh, has laid over for as much as five months by reason of 
the Map and Charter being lost. The Trustees of said Glebe have been under 
the necessity of taking a survey of said lands, for the purpose of making a 
map, and sending to secretary's office for an exemplified copy of the charter. 
The above being completed, we now Give Notice, to all those who are in 
arrears, for glebe rents in said village, to make payment to Isaac Belknap 
jun. who has the books for collecting, within 30 days from the date of this 
advertisement, or they wilt be dealt with agreeable to charter. It is pre- 
sumed and expected as' there is no one paid for collecting said monies, that 
the people will come forward themselves and make payment without anv 
further demand. Selah Reeve, j 

John D. Lawson, Trustees. 

Isaac Belknap, jun. ) 

Newburgh, October 3, 1804. 

The church party knowing from the current of events, the 
directions of the act above referred to, and the intentions of 
the acting trustees, that the rents would be lost to the church 
and given to the schools, determined to regain if possible: 
by fair means, and through the ballot box, the possession of 
the funds, by electing trustees under the old charter as it 
was before broken up by the Legislature, and who would be 
favorable to their pretensions. 

To accomplish this they issued the following manifesto and 
notice. 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 113 

Iii order to satisfy the public mind with regard to the appropriation of the 
property, in case the Church be successful in the establishment of her claim 
to the Glebe in the town of Newburgh— We, the undersigned, make the 
following Declaration, for the scrupulous and religious fulfilment of which, 
we solemnly pledge ourselves, as far as Providential circumstances will 
permit — 

1. The proceeds shall be applied according to the true intent and mean- 
ing of the charter, to the establishment and support of an Episcopal Church 
in the town of Newburgh, and of a regular clergyman for the same, subject 
to the discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New 
York and in the United States— The said clergyman to receive such a pro- 
portion of the income of the property, as, according to the true intent & ob- 
ject of the Charter, the Trustees shall appoint and stipulate. 

2. Provision shall be made for an instructor of youth according to the 
true intent and spirit of the Charter, who shall be subject to the direction and 
discipline of the said church, and for whom an appropriation shall be made 
in like manner, by the Trustees aforesaid. 

3. The Academy shall be put under such regulations, subject to the au- 
thority of the said Church in Newburgh, in conjunction with the Bishop 
and convocation of the Clergy, as shall promise best to promote the literary 
advantage of the town of Newburgh aforesaid, and of the State at large. 

4. As soon as the income from the property shall be found sufficient, 
provision shall be made, by the Trustees, for the support of a Free School, 
for the children of the Poor residing on the Patent, at the discretion of the 
Trustees, according to the spirit of the Charter, which school shall be con- 
fined to a certain number, to be enlarged however, from time to time, as the 
funds will permit. 

5. The Trustees shall appoint a Treasurer and Collector, in one person, 
which may be one of themselves; who shall be allowed a reasonable per 
centum, to be fixed by the Vestry in Session; and the Trustees shall regu- 
larly render every year to the Vestry in their corporate capacity an account 
of the proceeds and expenditures; which account shall not be allowed as 
just, unless audited and passed by the Vestry, or by a committee of their ap- 
pointment. 

6. In order to make all tilings commodious and agreeable to all parties 
concerned, the leases, if renewable, -shall be renewed on reasonable terms, 
on the three hundred acres, according to the true i ~>ent and meaning of the 
Charter, and in all cases the present leaseholders skill be first considered, 
and their convenience shall in all points be promoted ; excepting only where 
it shall be made appear that the said leaseholders have made the property an 
object of speculation, to the unjustifiable disadvantage of the Church. 

In testimony of our religious determination to carry the above Declaration 
into complete fulfilment, in all points in good faith, according to the best 
of our abilities: We have hereunto affixed our hands and seals, in New- 
burgh, this 31st day of October, in the year of our Lord, 1805. 

Cave Jones, Agent for the Church appointed by the Bishop. 
J. Fisk, W. Case, of Counsel for the Church. 



Notice. — All the male inhabitants, above the age of twenty-one years, 
residing on the tract of land known by the name of the German Patent, and 
who belong to the Protestant Episcopal Church, are desired to give their 
attendance at the old Episcopal Church in the Village of Newburgh, on 
Monday, the 4tli day of November next, at 12 o'clock at noon; iu .order to 

H 



114 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

choose two Trustees of the Parish of Newburgh, according to the true in- 
tent and meaning of the Charter granting the Glebe on the said Patent. 
October 31, 1805. 

In the election of trustees the church succeeded by reject* 
ing the votes of all who were not Episcopalians. This was 
clearly erroneous, and in violation of the charter. But hav- 
ing- accomplished their purpose thus far, and knowing the 
inhabitants would not recognize the authority of their trus- 
tees, it was necessary to go a step farther and cause their 
rights to be established in a court of law. For this purpose, 
and to lay a foundation for legal proceedings, they inducted 
the Rev. Cave Jones of New York, and put him into posses- 
sion of the church and the lands set apart for the minister as 
they supposed, and brought their action of ejectment. The 
suit was intended to question the constitutionality of the act 
of the Legislature, which, if they could overthrow, would re- 
store the Glebe rents, or a part of them, to the church. As 
the Episcopalians have always since the passage of said act 
thought themselves aggrieved and vitally injured in the 
chartered rights of their Church, and as it was a question of 
much interest to the parties, and of some feeling at the time, 
and now not well understood by the young, we propose to 
lay so much of that trial before the reader as will enable him 
to gather a pretty accurate knowledge of the merits of the 
question. He will at once see and regret that the cause was 
not decided upon its merits. 

Jackson, ex dem. The Rector, Church Wardens, &c. of St. 
George's Church, in the parish of Newburgh ; the Trustees 
of Si. George's Church, in said parish ; the Trustees of 
the parish of Newburgh ; and Cave Jones, against Mi- 
chael Nestles. 

This was an action of ejectment, for lands in the village of 
Newburgh, in the county of Orange. The cause was tried at 
the Orange circuit, before Mr. Justice 'Tompkins, on the 26th 
November, 1806. The lessors of the plaintiff claimed the 
premises in question, as a parcel of 100 acres of land, be- 
longing to an episcopalian minister, duly inducted, as rector 
of St. George' 's church in the parish of Newbiirgh. 

The lessors of the Plaintiff introduced the patent as a part 
of their cause, — a copy of which we have given. 

The lessors of the plaintiff, then proved, that during the 
time of the said trustees, and a short time after the granting 
the said charter, 100 acres of the said 500 acres of land, were 
surveyed, and set off for the use of a minister of the church 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 115 

of England. A short time afterwards, Mr. Watkins, a min- 
ister of the church of England, was inducted, agreeably to 
the charter, and had possession of the 100 acres, as minister, 
and continued in possession thereof, several years, officiating 
as minister on the said glebe. Mr. Sears, a minister of the* 
church of England, was inducted after Mr. Watkins, and as 
his successor, pursuant to the charter, and took possession of 
the said glebe, and continued in possession of it, officiating 
as minister, until the commencement of the war, in 1775. — 
During the time that Mr. Sears was in possession of the 
glebe, a house was erected thereon, for the use of the minis- 
ter. After the war, in 1785 or 1786, Mr. Spering, a minister 
of the episcopal church, was employed to officiate on the 
glebe, and continued in possession thereof, until 1793 or 1794. 

It was also proved that the premises in question, and the 
possession of the defendent, are parcel of the said 100 acres, 
called the parsonage lot or glebe. It was admitted, that two 
freeholders of the said patent, called the German patent, be- 
ing episcopalians, were, on the 4th November, 1805, and 
prior to the demises laid in the declaration, elected trustees 
of the parish of Newburgh, pursuant to a public notice, ad- 
dressed to all the male inhabitants, of tbe age of twenty-one 
years, residing on the tract of land known by the name of the 
German patent, and belonging to the protestant episcopal 
church. At the time of the election of the said two trustees, 
there were no persons residing on the said patent, who 
claimed to be trustees of the said parish. At the election 
held, in pursuance of the said notice, a large majority of the 
inhabitants of the said patent, who assembled to vote, were 
excluded from voting, because they were not episcopalians, 
and for that reason only. None but episcopalians, who con- 
stituted about one-tenth part of the inhabitants, were allow- 
ed to vote at said election. The trustees so elected, entered 
on the premises, and, afterwards, the present action was 
commenced. 

It was further proved that in 1803, Hugh Walsh and Levi 
Dodge, as trustees of (he parish of Newburgh, together with 
about one-third part of the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
said German patent, presented' a petition to the legislature, 
requesting certain amendments to the said charter. In con- 
sequence of this petition, which was publicly known on the 
patent, the legislature passed an act, on the 6th of April, 
3803, entitled " An act to alter and amend the charter of the 
glebe land in the German patent, in the village of New- 
burgh ;" the material part of which is, as follows : 



116 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

" Whereas a glebe of five hundred acres of land, situate in the town of 
Newburgh, and connty of Orange, was granted by letters patent, under the 
great seal of the then province of New York, on the 26th day of March, one 
thousand seven hundred and fifty-two, to Alexander Colden and Richard 
Albertson, and their successors, as trustees of the parish of Newburgh, and 
to the inhabitants then living on the German patent, for the support of a 
"minister of the church of England, as then by law established, and a school- 
master, to have the care of souls, and the instruction of the children of the 
inhabitants of the German patent: And whereas there now is not, nor has 
there been for several years last past, any such minister in said village : 
And whereas Hugh Walsh and Levi Dodge, trustees of said parish, together 
with the inhabitants of said patent, have by their petition prayed that the 
said charter be by law altered and amended, so as to meet their interest and 
convenience ; Therefore, Be it enacted, fyc. that it shall and may be lawful 
for the inhabitants residing on the said Germa7i patent, who shall have a 
right to vote at the annual town meetings, to meet together in the village of 
Newburgh, on the second Tuesday of May next, at some proper place, to be 
appointed by any justice of the peace within the said village, and notified to 
the inhabitants of said patent, at least one week previous to the said second 
Tuesday oiMay, and then and there to choose, by a plurality of votes, three 
persons, inhabitants of the said patent, to officiate as trustees of the afore- 
said glebe, who shall hold their offices for one year and until others be chosen 
in their stead ; and the said trustees so chosen shall have the like powers to 
do, and the like duties to perform, as the trustees of the parish of Newburgh 
have heretofore been possessed of and done ; and such justice shall preside 
at such meeting, and shall declare the persons having the greatest number of 
votes, as duly chosen trustees ; and on every second Tuesday of May, after 
the first election of trustees, there shall in like manner be a new election for 
trustees of the glebe, and the trustees for the time being shall perform the 
several duties required from said justice, in respect to notifying the meeting 
of the inhabitants of said patent, and presiding at such election. 

II. And be it further enacted, that the monies arising from the annual in- 
come of the glebe, shall forever hereafter be appropriated solely to the sup- 
port of schools on said glebe; that the sum of two hundred dollars of sucli 
monies shall be paid on the first Tuesday of May, in every year, by the 
trustees of the glebe, to the trustees of the academy at Newburgh, who shall 
apply the said sum of two hundred dollars, solely to the use of schools 
taught in said academy ; and that the remainder of the money arising from 
such annual income, shall be paid to the trustees of the other schools which 
are, or may hereafter be, established on the glebe, in such manner, and in 
such proportion, as the inhabitants aforesaid, from time to time, shall order 
and direct. Provided always, that if, at any time hereafter, a minister of the 
episcopal church shall be inducted on said patent, as nearly in conformity 
to said charter as may be, then it shall and may be lawful for the said trus- 
tees of the glebe to pay annually for the support of said minister, such pro- 
portion of the monies aforesaid, as shall be reasonable, according to the true 
intent and meaning of said charter." 

A majority of the inhabitants on the said patent, elected 
three trustees, in pursuance of the said act, and these trustees 
and the defendant hold the premises in question. The lessors 
of the plaintiff further offered to prove, that the persons whose 
names were recited in the said act of 1803, as trustees, were 
not of the parish of Newburgh, at that time, and that neither 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 117 

the said Hugh Walsh, or Levi Dodge, nor any persons, as 
trustees, had ever executed any deed of surrender, hefore or 
since the passing of the said act, which testimony was over- 
ruled by the judge. 

It further appeared in evidence, that Cave Jones, a regular 
clergyman, in communion with the protestant episcopal 
church, in the state of New York, on the 4th day of November, 
1805, had been called, chosen and inducted as a minister, to 
officiate on the said glebe ; that he was called and chosen by 
the said persons claiming to be trustees of the parish of New- 
burgh, together with the consent of all the episcopalians re- 
siding on the said patent, and was inducted by the wardens 
and vestry- men of St. George's church, in said parish, (which 
was admitted to be a religious incorporation, made and cre- 
ated pursuant to an act of the legislature of this state, entitled, 
"An act to provide for the incorporation of religious soci- 
eties," passed the 27th March, 1801 ; and was formed on the 
4th of November, 1803,) by and with the consent of the per- 
sons claiming to be trustees of the parish of Ncicburgh, as 
rector of said church ; and that as such rector, he afterwards, 
and before the commencement of this suit, entered into pos- 
sesion of the glebe-house, &c. 

The counsel for the defendant then moved, that the lessors 
of the plaintiff should be called to produce further evidence, 
or be nonsuited. No further evidence being offered, they 
were directed to be called and nonsuited. 

A motion was made, at the last term, to set aside the non- 
suit on the following grounds: 1. That by the charter of 
1752, none but episcopalians were qualified to vote, or were 
eligible, as trustees of the parish of Newburgh. 2. That by 
the constitution of the state, none but episcopalians could 
vote for, or be elected, as trustees, under the said charter. 
3. That the act of the legislature, altering the charter, was 
unconstitutional ; or if not unconstitutional, it was passed 
under a misapprehension of the rights and interests of the 
parties, occasioned by the misrepresentations of those, at 
whose instance, and for whose benefit the act was passed ; 
and that as there was no surrender of the inlerest in the said 
land, the same cannot be affected by the said act. 4. That 
the episcopalians residing on the said patent, having never 
joined in the petition for the said act, or acquiesced in, or 
acted under it, ought not to be affected by it. 6. That the 
100 acres, having been set apart for such minister, as the 
charter directed, when such minister was inducted, the use 
was executed ; and that Cave Jones, having been duly in- 



118 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

ducted as such minister, was entitled to recover the posses- 
sion, as the successor of the last rector of the said parish. 6. 
That if Cave Jones, as such rector, is not entitled to recover 
the premises, the trustees of the parish of JVewburgh, at least, 
are entitled to the possession. 

Fish, for the plaintiff. By the charter, or grant of the 26th 
of Mhrch, 1752, none but episcopalians, or persons belonging 
to the church of England, were entitled to vote for, or be 
elected trustees. When all the inhabitants of the tract are 
mentioned, episcopalians only are intended. It was clearly 
so understood by the grantees, who set apart 100 acres of the 
land for the use of an episcopal minister, who continued in 
possession 20 years. By the 36th section of the constitution 
of this state, all the royal grants and charters prior to the 
14th of October, 1775, are expressly confirmed ; and by the 
33rd section of the constitution, the free exercise and enjoy- 
ment of religious profession and worship, is declared, with- 
out discrimination or preference. The constitution intended 
to secure to every religious denomination, their property and 
rights. By the act of the legislature, of the 6th of April, 
1784,* all religious denominations are empowered to appoint 
trustees, who shall be a body corporate, to take care of the 
temporalities, and transact the affairs of their respective 
congregations or societies. By the act to provide for the in- 
corporation of religious societies, passed the 27th of March, 
1801, f the first section of which relates to protestant episcopal 
churches, the mode of electing church-wardens and vestry- 
men, and the qualifications of electors are prescribed. No 
persons have a right to vote, but such as belong to the same 
church or congregation. 

A large majority of the inhabitants now on the patent, are 
not episcopalians ; and if every male inhabitant, of the age 
of 21 years, without regard to his religious profession, be al- 
lowed to vote, the church may be forever kept vacant, and 
tbe intention of the charter thereby defeated. It would be 
absurd, to allow persons to vote under the charter, who are 
interested and disposed to vote in such a way, as to defeat the 
very object of that charter. If all the inhabitants have a 
right to vote, and will not vote, for episcopalians, then a man- 
damus may be necessary, to compel them to vote for such 
trustees. In 1803, the inhabitants petitioned the legislature 
to divest the land, and appropriate it solely to the use of 



*7 Sess. ch .18. Greenleaf's ed. of the Laics of New York, vol 1. p. 71. 
t Revised Laws of N. Y. vol. 1. p. 336. 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 119 

schools. But if the land, had not once vested in trustees, 
under the charter, it became vested again in the trustees, 
elected in 1805 ; and they could do no more than to set it 
apart, pursuant to the charter, for the use of an episcopal 
minister and a school. 

According to the true and legal construction of the charter, 
then, none but episcopalians had a right to vote, or if, before 
the constitution was formed, all the inhabitants of the patent 
had a right, yet since that time, no persons but such as be- 
long to, or are of the communion of that particular church 
have a right to vote, or act in regard to the management of 
its temporal and religious concerns. 

Have the rights of the plaintiff been divested by the act of 
1803 1 It can never affect the rights of the episcopal inhab- 
itants, as they did not join in the petition. If it be granted, 
that the legislature have power to interfere and direct the 
mode in which the charter officers are to be elected, it does 
not follow that they can take away the property of the 
grantees. In the preamble to the act, Hugh Walsh and 
Levi Dodge, are stated to be trustees, when in fact they were 
not trustees. It would be strange and unjust, if mere stran- 
gers might, by a petition to the legislature, obtain a grant 
of the property of others. The legislature had no right to 
make such a grant ; and if the act had been passed under a 
mistake, or through misrepresentation, it cannot operate 
against those who were strangers to the act, and who did not 
join in the petition.* The land having once vested in the 
grantees, under the charter, it could not be lawfully taken 
away from them, without their consent. 

J. Radcliff and T. A. Emmet, contra. The original char- 
ter was to certain palatines, who were German Lutherans. — 
On their removal from the tract, the remaining inhabitants, 
being of the church of England or episcopalians, met together, 
elected trustees, surrendered the original patent, and obtained 
a new charter to them and their successors. If none but 
persons of the same religious denomination, with those 
named in the original grant, had a right to vote ; then the 
episcopalians in 1752 had no right to elect trustees. There is 
as much ground to object to the charter of 1752, under 
which the plaintiff claims, as to the act of 1803, under which 
the defendant holds. The episcopalians, in 1752, acted in 
the same manner towards the Lutherans, as the presbyterians 
in 1803, have acted towards the episcopalians. No evidence 



Jackson v. Catlin, 1 Johnson, 253. 



120 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

was offered under the first and second demises ; and the claim 
of the plaintiff rests on the two last demises. There are 
two sets of trustees, one of the parish of JVewburgh, elected 
pursuant to the charter under which the plaintiff claims ; the 
other created hy the act of 1803. 

1. It is said that none hut episcopalians have a right to 
vote for trustees. But the words of the charter are, that all 
the male inhabitants of the tract, of the age of twenty-one 
years, are to elect trustees, and that the trustees with the 
consent of a majority of the freeholders of the tract, are to 
call and present a minister, and appoint a schoolmaster. — 
There is nothing in the charter which says, that the persons 
entitled to vote, shall be episcopalians. Admitting the fact, 
that at the time the charter was granted, all the inhabitants 
were episcopalians, it would not follow, that the. right of voting 
was to be always confined to persons of that religious denom- 
ination ; since it was not to be presumed, that persons of the 
same religious sect would forever continue on the patent, 
when it was the well-known policy of the parent country 
to encourage protestants, of all denominations, to settle in the 
colonies. The grant was not solely for a religious object, 
but for moral and commercial purposes, the support of a 
school, and the upholding of a. fair or market. In the latter 
objects, every inhabitant was interested, whatever might be 
his particular tenets of religion. According to the intent of 
the charter, at least in respect to a school and fair, every in- 
habitant had a right to vote for the trustees. If so, the elec- 
tion in 1805, in which none but episcopalians were allowed 
to vote, was illegal. 

Again, no minister could be called, without the consent of 
a majority of the freeholders on the patent. The trustees, 
alone had no power to appoint a minister. But it is said, 
that if those who are not episcopalians are allowed to vote 
for trustees, or to appoint a minister, the intention of the 
original grant, may be defeated. But the rights of episcopa- 
lians are not infringed. The trustees would be bound to 
fulfil the original intent of the charter; the inconvenience 
that might result from. the necessity of compelling the trustees 
to act, furnish no legal objection to the charter for which we 
contend. Whenever a minister of the episcopal church is 
properly inducted, the trustees are bound to appropriate the 
glebe to his use. This is merely a question of property not 
of conscience. No rights of conscience have been violated in 
this case. Compare it to an advowson or patronage. A pa- 
tron, in England, possessing an advowson, or right of pre- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBTJRGH. 121 

sentation to any church, may, by common law, be of any 
religious denomination whatever. A Jew, if he purchase an 
estate, to which an advowson is annexed, may present. By 
the statutes of 3 James I. c 5. and of I William and Mary, 
sess. 1. c. 26. popish recusants convict, and persons who will 
not subscribe to the declaration, mentioned in the act against 
papists, are disabled from presenting to a benefice ; but per- 
sons of every other religious sect, possessing an advowson 
may present.* There is no ground for the in/erence, in this 
case, that because the inhabitants of the patent, at the time 
the grant was made, were all episcopalians, that in the lapse 
of time, other inhabitants, who were not. episcopalians, might 
not vote in the choice of trustees. Such an inference is in- 
aonsistent with the principles of the English common law, 
and contrary to the liberal policy of this country. 

2. Again, it is said that none but an episcopalian could be 
elected a trustee, or rector. But after the adoption of the 
constitution of this state, no episcopalian could be elected, or 
inducted under the charter. Before the constitution was 
adopted, it was essential that the rector or clergyman should 
be inducted, by the governor of the state, pursuant to in- 
structions from the king and council, or by the bishop of 
London. As the rights of the king, or bishop of London, in 
regard to the churches in this state, were destroyed by the 
revolution, it was impossible to carry the charter into effect. 
The trust, so far as it respected a clergyman of the church of 
England, ceased, and there remained only the trust as to a 
school and fair. By an act of the legislature, passed the 17th 
of April, 1784, f the charter of the Trinity church, as it re- 
spected induction, was repealed. This act shows clearly the 
opinion of the legislature, that the charter, so far as it related 
to the induction of a clergyman of the church of England, 
could not, consistently with the constitution of the state, be 
carried into effect. The regulations of this act, however, 
were confined to the southern district. The constitution was 
left to have full effect upon all the charters in the other parts 
of the state, which were not, it is probable, thought of suf- 
ficient importance, to induce an application to the legislature 
to revive the uses and trusts, as it respected the episcopal 
church. [It is to be observed, also, that the legislature, by 
the act of 1784, in relation to Trinity church, recognized and 
confirmed the previous acts of the council, for the temporary 

*Cruise>s Dig. Tit.SH c.2. §22—50. 

tGreenleof's ed. of the Laws of New York, v. 1, p. 95. 



122 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

government of the southern district, who, upon the petition 
of sundry persons, and to prevent dissensions, declared the 
places of the church-wardens and vestry-men vacant, and 
vested all the estate, real and personal, of the corporation, in 
certain persons named in the act. 

Induction in England, is an act done, exmandato the arch- 
deacon.* In this state before the constitution, it was an act 
done according to a mandate from the king to the governor. 
Who became the heirs and successors of the crown, in rela- 
tion to the right of induction 1 As the governor had a right 
to induct by command of the king only, surely, this right 
could not have vested in the church-wardens and vestry-men 
at JVewburgh. 

It is said, that the act of 1803 was unconstitutional, or 
passed under a mistake as to the rights of the plaintiffs. We 
contend that the act was constitutional, and as it granted the 
land to the trustees, under whom the defendant claims, it is 
conclusive in this cause. It has already been shown, that by 
the revolution, and constitution of this state, the trusts and 
uses of this charter, as it respected a minister of the church 
of England, became extinct. The only trust or use remain- 
ing, was in relation to a school and a fair, or market ; and in 
regard to these objects, all the inhabitants, without regard to 
religious distinctions, were interested, and had aright to vote 
in the choice of trustees, and to petition the legislature. No 
rights have been infringed. The act makes no new law ; 
it provides that if, at any time thereafter, a minister of the 
episcopal church should be inducted, as near as may be, ac- 
cording to the charter, that the trustees of the glebe should 
pay to him annually, a reasonable proportion of the monies 
arising from the lands, according' to the true intent of the 
charter. This act was therefore wise and beneficial. It 
gave effect to the existing trust or use, as to a school, under 
the charter, and left the other use, as it regarded a minister, 
untouched. There was no evidence of any surrender in the 
charter ; and the judge at the trial declined giving any opin- 
ion as to the effect of any misrepresentation to the legisla- 
ture. The legislature had a right to vest the estate without 
a surrender. An estate may be made to cease by statute,! 
and to pass and vest, in a manner different from what it 
could by the common law.J The power of the legislature is 



*Cruise , s Dig. Tit. 21- c 2. §13. 

iBnr. Ah, Statute (E) 6 Rep. 40. Mildmar/s case, Cro. Eliz. 379. 

tl Lev. 75. T. Raym, 355. 2d laet. 4th par. 36. 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 123 

unlimited, except by the constitution. It may take the pro- 
perty of A. and grant it to B. though it is bound undoubted- 
ly, in justice and honor, to make full compensation to A. 
but whether this be clone or not, the grant to B. is, neverthe- 
less, valid. In relation to the rights of property, the legis- 
lature is supreme and uncontrolable. Without wishing to 
extend the powers of the legislature, we must say, that when 
the legislature have enacted what is not forbidden by the 
constitution, courts of justice must bend and bow before the 
law. No court has power to pronounce such an act void. 
The doctrine that a law against natural justice is no law, 
may be true in theory, but in practice and experience, it is 
otherwise. But even in such cases the injustice must be 
gross and palpable. What shall we say of the bills of at- 
tainder, passed during the late war, by which the estates of 
persons were forfeited and taken away, without a trial, when 
the parties were absent or unheard] It is true, that since 
the constitution of the United States, no such bills can again 
be passed ; but this court has never questioned the validity 
of those acts. So the charter of the corporation of the city of 
New York, has been altered by an act of the legislature. — 
Again, it is a maxim of law and of justice, that no man 
ought to be a judge in his own cause ; yet, by an act of the 
legislature, the mayor's court of this city, consisting of the 
mayor, recorder and aldermen, are empowered to take cogniz- 
ance of causes, in which the corporation are parties, in rela- 
tion to private property and the regulation of streets. Yet 
the validity of this act has never been called in question. — 
It has been said that when the act of 1803 was passed, there 
were no trustees ; if so, then the rights of no person have been 
infringed. 

Cave Jones, the minister elected in 1805, cannot maintain 
this action. He had not the legal estate, nor was he the 
cestui que use. The use was executed in the trustees, not in 
Jones. It could not be executed in Jones, for a use cannot be 
executed, unless there be a person seised to the use of an- 
other.* Now, the trustees being a corporation, cannot be 
seised to a use.f It was, in fact, a trust, at common law, or 
use executed in the trustees, by the statute.! The trustees 
had power to grant leases, and no other person could exer- 
cise that power. A parson in England, is a corporation sole, 
and is seised of the freehold. Here the rector is not a corpo- 



* Cruise's Dig. 422. Tit. 9. c. 3. §7. 

t Ibid. 423. 1 Co. 122 a 126 a Dyer, 283 a. t Ciuis-.'s Dig. 462, 463. 



124 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

ration sole, nor is be seised of the freehold. The trustees 
had no right to locate the two hundred acres for the exclu- 
sive benefit of a clergyman ; for the charter gives it for the 
joint object of a minister and a school. It is clear, therefore, 
that Cave Jones had no legal estate ; he was in possession, 
neither under the old charter, nor the new incorporation. — 
He was neither inducted according to the charter, nor ac- 
cording to the act of the legislature, relative to religious in- 
corporations. Again, the new religious corporation can 
claim nothing under the old corporation. There is no privity 
between them, no legal succession or inheritance, by which 
the rights or property of the one can be transmitted to the 
other. The trustees elected under the new incorporation, 
could not be the lessors of the plaintiff, for the act of 1803, had 
vested the estate in others, in order to carry into effect the 
remaining trusts of the charter. 

Van Ness, J. On the argument, several nice and delicate 
questions were raised for our decision. The property in dis- 
pute is understood to be valuable, and being appropriated for 
religious and other beneficial public purposes, it is desirable 
that a compromise should be effected between the parties, 
upon principles of mutual concession, whereby the ends of 
the original grant may, in some way, be attained. My 
opinion will leave the door to compromise open, and if the 
parties shall not avail themselves of this opportunity to ad- 
just the controversy by amicable arrangement among them- 
selves, they must abide the consequences of such decisions 
as the court shall, in the course of future litigation, feel itself 
bound to pronounce. 

The lessors of the plaintiff found their right to a recovery, 
upon the legality and validity of the election of trustees, in 
November , 1805, conducted, as they contend, in conformity 
to the original charter. They deny the right of the legisla- 
ture to make the law of 1803 ; but even conceding that the 
legislature had the right, they allege that the law was ob- 
tained by fraud and misrepresentation, and ought, therefore, 
to be avoided. 

The defendant denies the legality of the election of 1805, 
inasmuch as episcopalians, exclusively, were permitted to 
vote thereat. But, admitting that the charter gave to epis- 
copalians only the right to vote, he says, that the act of 1803 
has altered and modified the charter, and that he derives his 
possession from the trustees chosen pursuant to that act. 

The trustees of the parish of Newburgh are a body corpo- 
rate, and it is taken for granted, on all hands, that the title 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 125 

to the land in controversy is vested in that corporation, or 
those claiming under it. And, in my view of the subject, 
the only question presented by the case is, who are the mem- 
bers composing this corporation. 

To deteimine that question, the counsel on both sides have 
proceeded on the idea, that a decision as to the validity of 
one or both of the election of trustees, is'necessarily involved. 
I think differently. The question in this action is not, who 
are the trustees clejure, but who are the trustees de facto. As 
long as the conflicting claims of these different sets of trus- 
tees, both elected under color of right, to the exercise of the 
corporate rights, remain undetermined, so long the possessions 
held under either, ought not to be disturbed. I am satisfied, 
that in the present suit these claims cannot be tried. If an 
inquiry into the qualifications of the persons who were per- 
mitted to vote at the election of 1805, can be made, the same 
inquiry is equally proper, as to the qualification of those who 
voted at the election of 1803. In fact, the regularity of eve- 
ry part of the elections would be open to investigation. This 
would be, not only an unprecedented mode of proceeding, 
but contrary, in my opinion, to known and well-settled rules. 

The defendant is in possession, under the trustees elected 
pursuant to the act of 1803. I intend, that he is in possession 
.under a lease, sealed with the corporate seal ; and those 
trustees, as it respects this portion, at least, of the lands be- 
longing to the corporation, must be regarded as the trustees 
de facto. They were elected before the other set of trustees, 
under an existing law of the legislature, and until they are 
ousted, the court is bound to protect the possession of their 
tenant. 

The only way in which the legality and regularity of those 
elections can be settled, is by information, in the nature of 
quo warranto, under our statute. This is the appropriate re- 
medy, in all cases of contested corporation elections ; and 
either of the present parties may resort to it, to have their 
rights fully investigated, and finally determined. 

Until it shall have been determined by this mode of pro- 
ceeding, who are the rightful and legitimate representatives 
of the corporation, I shall be unwilling to disturb the posses- 
sions of either of the parties. My opinion, accordingly, is, 
that a new trial ought to be denied. 

Spencer, J. The plaintiff having been nonsuited at the 
trial, it becomes a question, whether a title has been deduced 
under either of the demises. The first demise is from the re- 
ligious incorporation, formed under the statute, on the 4th 



126 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

November, 1805, and their title is supposed to have com- 
menced, at the time of the incorporation, and to extend to such 
real estate, as the original trustees, Colden and Albertson, 
held under the grant, of the 26th March, 1752. Upon the 
principles of the common law, this religious incorporation 
could take such property only, as had been granted to it, by 
its corporate style, and not being in esse, when tire first grant 
was made, it could not acquire any interest by relation. If, 
therefore, it became invested with any property in the lands 
granted to Colden and Albertson, it can only be under the 
provisions of the general statute. To acquire a title by that 
statute, it is necessary, that the grant should have been to 
the corporation, to the congregation, or society, or to Colden 
and Albertson, for their use. By a reference to the charter, it 
will be seen, that although Colden and Albertson were trus- 
tees, they were not trustees exclusively, for the benefit of that 
society, but for the benefit of a minister of the church of 
England, and a schoolmaster, in the proportion which the 
trustees shall think meet and convenient ; so that the trustees 
had a discretionary control over the fund, the profits of which 
they could distribute as they thought proper. It appears to 
me, that under the charter, therefore, it cannot be contended, 
that the corporation acquired any legal interest in the land 
itself, they not being cestui que trusts, for the entirety, nor for 
any definite proportion of it. 

The second and third demises involve the same question, 
except so far as respects Cave Jones, and that is, whether 
the election of the 4th November, 1805, was a valid election, 
and conferred on the lessors, the legal estate to the lands in 
controversy. The case states, that a large majority of the 
inhabitants of the German patent, who assembled to vote, 
were not episcopalians, and for this reason only, their votes 
were refused, and that none but episcopalians, who did not 
compose one-tenth part of the inhabitants, were allowed to 
vote at that election. The right of election is expressly 
given by the charter, to all male inhabitants of the German 
patent, who are above the age of twenty-one years. The 
trustees, when elected, have the disposal of the revenues of 
the glebe, and are to distribute them, as they think meet, be- 
tween the minister and schoolmaster ; the minister is requir- 
ed, by the charter, to be of the church of England, and has 
the care of souls of all the inhabitants on the patent, whilst 
the schoolmaster may be of any religious denomination, and 
it is his duty to instruct the children of all the inhabitants. 

From this statement, it would seem to me, most conclu- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 127 

sively, that no court of law, called upon to pronounce, not to 
make the law, can hesitate in saying, that all the inhabitants 
of the German patent, have an important right secured to 
them by the charter, of electing trustees, to make, not only 
the selection of a schoolmaster, but to decide on his salary. 
Of this right, they ought not to be deprived, from a supposed 
inconsistency, that persons of various religions, may, under 
the words of the charter, interfere in the choice of an epis- 
copalian clergyman, or may be averse to the employment of 
one of that order. 

It must have been foreseen, when the charter was granted, 
that there would be persons of different modes of religious 
worship on the German patent ; yet, still, they were to be 
admitted to a participation in the elections. It cannot be 
requisite to advert to other parts of the charter, to enforce the 
propriety of the opinion I have formed ; if it was necessary, 
my opinion would receive additional force, from that part of 
the charter which enables the trustees to hold fairs, in which, 
as well as in the choice of a schoolmaster, all the inhabitants 
have a vested interest, by the charter, and consequently, 
cannot, and ought not to be deprived of the right of choosing 
their trustees, on the propriety, and fidelity of whose con- 
duct their rights, in a great measure, depend. 

With respect to the demise from Cave Jones, there is no 
pretence to say, that he acquired any legal title to any por- 
tion of the lands, under his induction and settlement. The 
only claim he had, was to such part of the revenue of the 
glebe, as the trustees thought proper to give him. 

The plaintiff having failed to show any title, the defendant 
cannot be disturbed in his possession. This view of the case 
renders it unnecessary to consider the objections raised to the 
act of the 6th April, 1803. My attention has not been par- 
ticularly directed to the consideration, whether the legality 
of the election of trustees, can be tried in this collateral way, 
inasmuch as both parties have considered the validity of the 
election of November, 1805, fairly before the court, without 
any objection to the manner in which it has been presented. 
In my opinion, the nonsuit ought not to be confirmed ; and 
that, consequently, the plaintiff must take nothing by his 
motion. 

Kent, Ch. J. and Thompson, J. having been absent, from 
indisposition, on the argument ofthecause, gave no opinion. 

Rule refused. 
3 John Rep. 115. 



128 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

As previously remarked, the Palatines who located the 
patent named the place Newburgh, after a place of the same 
name in Germany, where they came from. 

Individuals who were here during the Revolution inform 
us the place was called Foxburgh, from the fact, that that 
animal was very numerous in the vicinity, and burrowed in 
the hills around it. But the name not being generally known, 
and limited in its application, soon died away and became 
forgotten with the extinction of the animal. 

In May, 1783, some of the proprietors of the land, with 
other citizens, concluded that Newburgh would be preferable 
to New Windsor as a site for commercial purposes, laid out 
the present streets, and filled up the original outline of the 
plot from South street at the north to First street, which runs 
east and west, and south of the Presbyterian meeting house. 
This plot, embracing a large part of the present densely built 
portion of the village, when surveyed and transferred to the 
map or chart made at the time, was called Washington, and 
is so named on the map, and in some of the early convey- 
ances of village lots. We do not know the authors of this 
insidious attempt to change the name of the village, by such 
a public and durable monument, but as it ought, it most sig- 
nally failed in accomplishing the object. There is not a per- 
son in the vicinity, nor village itself, unless of the legal pro- 
fession, or in the practice of drawing or reading village deeds, 
who ever heard of the name or knows to what part of the 
plot it applied. We confess our ignorance until apprised of 
it by a legal friend, well acquainted with these old village 
matters. The place was never known by that name by the 
people of the county, and if it was it is now lost and forgotten, 
and is only found on the original map and in a few old deeds 
which still continue to retain the record of its birth and death. 
U this attempt had succeeded we would have had another in- 
stance like that perpetrated by Americus Vespucius on Co- 
lumbus, the fraudulent bestowment of a new name. But we 
are gratified in saying, the citizens generally, from year to 
year, and from period to period, have most honorably and 
perseveringly maintained and preserved, and that too with- 
out any direct effort, the true and original name ! and New- 
burgh remains to-day, in all the freshness and beauty of the 
German tongue. 

The north part of the village on the hill, and the south, 
afterwards called Renwick's clock, were settled first, and the 
former location was early known, as it is now, by the name 
of Old Town. The old glebe school house, which originally 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 129 

was both church and school room, and recently removed, wan 
at this location. 

The village is pleasantly situated on the margin of the 
river, on the face of the steep slope of its bank, and on the 
flat west of the slope, containing 5,784 inhabitants — 60 mile6 
from New York and 95 from Albany. It was incorporated 
in 1800, contains 10 churches of almost all Christian denomi- 
nations, and a court house with cells beneath for the confine- 
ment of criminals on short sentences. Within the limits of the 
village and suburbs are many stately and beautiful residences, 
with grounds magnificently ornamented with trees, shrubs 
and abundance of choice luxuriant flowers of every kind and 
description that flourish in this latitude. Show us the grounds 
around your dwelling, and w T e will tell you whether you are 
a lover of the beauties of nature, and if permitted to look into 
your windows, we can tell the taste and refinement of your 
lady. We admire the taste of the individual who plants a 
magnificent sun flower, but still more, the one who cherishes 
the pink and the modest forget-me-not, and commune not 
with those who have no pleasure in these things. The vil- 
lage maintains a direct and extensive intercourse with the 
country in all directions, by means of many good roads. con- 
centrating within her limits, and with the city of New York 
by the river. Her commerce is extensive and flourishing, 
though not so much so as formerly. Her manufacturing es- 
tablishments arc various, numerous, and increasing in vari- 
ety and importance. We will endeavor to give a brief enu- 
meration and description of them in our paper. The village 
has many important natural advantages in a business point 
of view, when we consider her exact location, and the for- 
mation of the land along the bank of the river, both above 
and below it. For twenty miles south the Highlands bar out 
any approach to the river, and exclude the possibility of lo- 
cating a village with any prospect of success. The steep and 
precipitous nature of the river bank for thirty or forty miles 
north equally forbid the attempt. The country to the west 
is open, highly cultivated and productive, and easy of ap- 
proach at all seasons, naturally seeks Newburgh as its mar- 
ket, if there were no artificial facilities tending to divert it in 
another or many other directions. Formerly the products of 
this region, with those of north New Jersey and Pennsylva- 
nia sought this market, and of necessity vented themselves 
here. This condition of things seemed to conspire with the 
enterprise of the place, to force the village into commercial 
notice and business importance, and. for a long time the result 

i 



130 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

was in accordance with it. We are bound to say, that du- 
ring all such favorable periods, the citizens freely and nobly 
exerted their ample means to transact the business of their 
customers with the greatest despatch and satisfaction. But 
there are tides in the affairs of men, and the construction of 
the Delaware and Hudson canal was one, and the magnitude 
and force of its surge diverted the great western trade in its 
ricinity into another direction and to other markets, and con- 
fined the business of Newburgh to narrower limits. This, 
though injurious, could have been enduied as not absolutely 
mortal, had it not been succeeded by the more extensive and 
deeply felt effects of the building of the New York and Erie 
Rail Road, which made large and permanent inroads upon 
her property and business operations. Such were the dead- 
ening influences of the construction of this road, for a few 
years, that it prostrated the business of the place — houses 
were tenantless, men shut up their shops and removed to 
more favorable localities, and the whole trade of the me- 
chanical arts stood still with the commerce of the village, or 
went down with it. The effect was blighting in the extreme, 
and the streets empty as if it were a continued Sabbath. — 
Newburgh, if true to her own interest, cannot only live and 
flourish without direct detriment to other places, but regain 
her former prosperity. True, the means by which it is to be 
accomplished are of a different character, and though some 
what new and unpractised here, still ensure the same uner- 
ring results. If the natural facilities growing out of her fa- 
vorable geographical position are cut off and denied her, 
prudence and a wise forecast determine with a reliable judg- 
ment, that she must create those of a more artificial character, 
with means for which she is most amply provided. For seve- 
ral years she has relied too confidently on her natural po- 
sition, her former extensive and profitable business, and her 
present facilities for doing it again ; the while cherishing the 
thought, that trade with its train of blessings would in the 
long run return, as being best and most profitably done here. 
These hopes and expectations were vain and fallacious, and 
she must, now rise from her lethargy and dreamy slumbers, 
shake off all these baseless expectations, and go to work like 
men determined to succeed, and make all things available to 
accomplish it. Let her vigorously persevere in the great 
business of manufactures so nobly begun, and one hundred 
to one, the road to prosperity and wealth is sure and broad 
before her. The deep, permanent and alarming injuries re- 
ceived by the works above referred to, and the building up 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 131 

of rival establishments all over the country, consequent 
thereon, compel Newburgh, as in a case of life and death, — 
unless some other relief be devised — to adopt the course here 
indicated. The strongest and surest arguments are drawn 
from facts, aud the long practical experience of men in busi- 
ness ; and looking over the manufacturing districts of the 
Union, where do you find more general prosperity and diffu- 
sion of wealth. A word to the wise is sufficient. 

We are of opinion that business of all kinds can be done 
in Newburgh, on better terms for the country, than at any 
former period. The substitution of tow-boats, in place of the 
more expensive transportation by steamers, ensures such a 
result. There can be no question, that articles generally 
sent to the city, can be delivered at less cost, and in better 
order by a tow boat, than by rail-road. Neat, clean, and 
unmussed articles command the highest price in market, and 
this is insured by the present mode of conveyance. In ad- 
dition to these, the favorite and safe steamer Highlander, that 
never lost a trip by an accident in 10 years, is now plying 
between the village and the city, engaged in the transporta- 
tion of country produce — while the Thomas Powell, the fast- 
est boat ever propelled by steam, in this or any other country, 
runs daily to the city, transporting passengers only. On 
Thursday, the 16th of July, 1846, she made the trip from 
New York to Newburgh in 2 hours 40 minutes, running 
time. If this is not in the vicinity of extra good time, we 
are no judges of velocity in such matters. Too much cannot 
be said, in just praise and admiration of this steamer, in all 
her appointments, nor in commendation of her enterprising 
and accommodating proprietor, in getting her up more for 
the benefit of Newburgh, and its vicinity, than for personal 
profit. We hope she may pay well, nay, abundantly com- 
pensate her owner, and if not, we know he will receive the 
gratitude and benedictions of his fellow citizens — themselves 
a rich reward to the heart and feelings of an aged man, who, 
at his time of life, estimates benefactions conferred more high- 
ly than those received. 

In addition to these facilities to do a profitable and conve- 
nient transportation business of all kinds as well for the em- 
ployers as owners, Newburgh furnishes the tow-boat lines of 
B. Carpenter & Co., Crawford, Mailer, & Co., and the steam 
propeller of Wardrop, Smith, & Co. These are old and 
strong lines, and the men who deal with them in a businesi 
way, may go home and sleep soundly — satisfied they will re- 
ceive the best returns the market affords, and their money 



132 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

when called for. We question, from a long acquaintance 
with the owners of these lines of transportation, and from pub- 
lic opinion of many years formation of their character as busi- 
ness men throughout a wide spread community, if any one 
location on the river, from New York to Albany, can offer a 
surer guarantee to freighters for care and attention. Men 
may be very safe in a pecuniary point of view, and good 
salesmen, yet in the freighting and transportation business, 
as in every other calling and profession in life, which brings 
them in contact with every temperament and description of 
character, there must be kind feelings, even temper, that 
slowness to anger which bears long with contradiction, gen- 
tlemanly demeanor, and personal attention to customers that 
make all things pleasant and agreeable, to insure success. — 
We have never heard a suggestion in this community of a 
want of these requisite qualifications on the part of the conduc- 
tors of these lines. These boats make two or three trips each 
to the city of New York weekly, all running on different days. 
so that produce need net wait an hour scarcely on the docks 
of the village, before it is on its way to the head of the 
market. 

Nor indeed, are these all, for there is in addition, the 
steamer American Eagle, plying twice a week between the 
Village and Albany, and the two sloops of Wm. A. Bullus, 
which sail also to Albany, on no fixed days, touching at all 
the intermediate landings. The citizens of Newburgh are 
really common carriers, and their exertions and enterprise 
co-extensive with the navigable portion of the River. These 
facilities, with those previously mentioned, arc nearly all a 
reasonable community ought to exact or expect from our lo- 
cality of transportation, but if they expect greater things, 
they may, as the proverb says, " go farther and find worse." 

We have previously mentioned that the old Glebe school 
house was situated in the old town. We have no means of 
Ascertaining the exact time this building was erected, but as 
it was put up by the Lutheran inhabitants of the German pa- 
tent for a church and school house, both objects being con- 
templated and provided for by the patent, — it must have 
been at an early day, and previous to 1752, when the patent 
was altered in favor of the Episcopal church, as previously 
stated. As all the present generation recollect, it stood in 
the old grove yard in Liberty street, a Jong, low, narrow, 
unsightly building — old, patched up, disjointed and weather- 
beaten. It is thought, independent of its being for many 
years a church and school room, to have some Revolution- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 133 

ary associations connected with it, as being - the house in 
which the officers of the army met from time to time, and 
consulted upon the affairs of the army and nation ; the most 
interesting" of which, were connected with the publication of 
the celebrated Newburgh Letters, which we think is founded 
in error. If the reader will indulge us, we will make a re- 
mark on this point. Marshall, in his life of Washington, 
speaking of the Newburgh Letters, and (he call made upon 
the officers of the army to meet and consider what measures 
should be adopted to obtain a redress of 1 heir grievances, in 
relation to their pay, says the meeting was appointed to be 
held on the 11 th of March, 1783, at the Public Building, and 
that Washington, in order to supercede and prevent that 
meeting, by a general order for the purpose, appointed one 
to be held by the same officers on the 15th of March, at the 
New Building. In the local history of the village, it is un- 
certain what buildings these were, some supposing as a mat- 
ter of course, (he " Public Building'''' mentioned in (he call by 
the Letters, was the old Glebe School House; while others, 
in like manner, believe the New Building mentioned in 
Washington's order, was the old Hasbrouck House, then 
Head Quarters. When the historian Bancroft was here in 
1844, he made an address in the Court House to his poltical 
friends, and many out of curiosity to see the great historian, 
the Hume or Gibbon of America, went to hear him. On this 
occasion, as was very proper, he referred to Revolutionary 
times, when the army was stationed here — to Head Quarters 
at the old stone house — to the Newburgh Letters — to Wash- 
ington's answer — and to the old Glebe School House, etc., 
and seemed to take it for granted that these meetings — at 
least the one called by the Letters — were held in the Glebe 
School House. And, as if it were so, and to prove it, by his 
own conduct and belief, he actually visited and inspected the 
house, the locality and grounds about it. For such belief 
and present, impression made upon our citizens, Mr. Bancroft 
has been, in some measure, instrumental ; but as he received 
his information from what he believed a reliable source, he 
is not, perhaps, to be chided therefor. We have been told 
by a gentleman of this village, who has had a correspondence 
with Mr. Bancroft upon the subject, that he received his in- 
formation in relation to the place where the meetings were 
held, or proposed to be held, from the Life of Alexander 
Hamilton, written recently by his son. This certainly ought 
to be good authority. This opinion will no doubt be stated 
by him in his history, when he comes to treat of these e- 



134 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

vents, and others, which transpired here and in the vicinity. 
Our belief is, that Mr. Bancroft, and all others who think 
that these meetings, or either of them, were held, or intend- 
ed to be held, either at the old Stone House or Glebe School 
House, are mistaken, and hold an opinion without any facts 
to support it, not even a faint tradition. Our first remark is, 
the Glebe School House, though in one sense a public build- 
ing, having been erected by the inhabitants of the Patent to 
comply with the terms of the Charter ; yet it was not a buil- 
ding public to the army or its officers. Besides, the building 
during the war was not over twenty feet square, and a very 
unfit place in which to hold either of the meetings referred 
to. The east half of the building, as seen by Bancroft, was 
erected by the Trustees of the Glebe 35 or 40 years ago, and 
twenty years or more after the war. The age, magnitude, 
and reputed public nature of the house — being no other of 
the kind — may have misled him and others on the point. — 
And besides all this, the house was entirely out of the way, 
and not convenient for such a purpose, as the army and offi- 
cers were at Snake Hill, the square and back of the village 
of New Windsor, and not in the vicinity of this building. — 
But what is conclusive, we have the testimony of a living 
witness, that it was worn out and in a dilapidated state in 
the Revolution, and scarcely fit to stable horses in at that 
time, to which purpose it was devoted by the officers of the 
army. This was no desecration of the building erected for 
church purposes; for it was unfit for that, and had been a- 
bandoned as a place of worship for years, in consequence of 
its worn out and ruined condition. Gen. W. had too great 
respect for a building of that character, to permit it to be used 
by his officers for such a purpose, if it were not in the condi- 
tion stated, unless on absolute necessity which did not exist 
at the time. A Mr. Sears, we are told, was the last clergy- 
man that preached in it before the Revolution. Originally it 
was a small affair, only some 20 feet square, with a square 
roof, little cupola and a bell hung in it. After the war it 
was repaired by Benjamin Wygant and Brothers, by re-sid- 
ing it with pine boards, (the original being shingles,) splic- 
ing the posts, which were decayed, and putting in new 
flooring, etc. After this period, and for some years, perhaps 
till the close of the 18th century, it was occasionally used by 
the Methodists as a place of worship; the Presbyterians ha- 
ving a church of their own and the Episcopalians having 
abandoned it before the war. Town Meeting was held in it 
in 1791, and the election for Trustees of the Glebe in 1805. 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 135 

Our next remark is, that these meetings were not held, 
nor intended to be held, at the old Stone House. True, it 
was Head Quarters, and had been repaired in 1770, as was 
previously stated, some thirteen years before ; still, it was 
the private residence of Washington and his family, and of 
the family also of Mr. Hasbrouck — a place wholly unfit for 
such a meeting, and where it could not, and would not have 
been held by him, with any propriety. The fact of being re- 
paired thirteen years before would scarcely authorize Wash- 
ington, whose authority sanctified every thing, to call it the 
new building in a public order. We conclude that the public 
building was not the old glebe school house, and that the new 
building was not the old stone house. Having objected to 
these opinions as erroneous, the public have a strong claim 
on us for a better one, true to the very letter, and against 
which no serious objections can be urged. W T e proceed to 
discharge the claim, and, if not correct, will thank any gen- 
tleman better acquainted with local and general history per- 
taining to the point to set us right in this matter. Originally, 
we supposed it was a matter of opinion about which there 
was no historical certainty, principally resting on tradition, 
and could not, at this day, probably, be made certain by the 
testimony of living witnesses : but in that we were mistaken. 
As connected with the various localities of the army at Snake 
Hill, New Windsor, the Square, etc., and for convenience in 
the discharge of Christian duty, General Washington erected 
a large temporary building, expressly for the officers to wor- 
ship in from Sabbath to Sabbath. This building was on the 
height of land on the farm of Jabez Atwood, deceased, near 
and south of Snake Hill, and was called the Temple, herein- 
after mentioned under the name Snake Hill in the town of 
New Windsor. The elderly persons in the vicinity of the 
Hill, and the descendents of those who owned this farm, re- 
collect well and distinctly, hearing from their fathers about 
the size, locality, and building of the temple, and the objects 
for which it was intended, and about the fact there can be no 
doubt. This was a new region of country; there were no 
large or public buildings either in the towns or villages of 
New Windsor or Newburgh, suitable to accommodate the 
army in this respect. The very locality of the edifice is fa- 
vorable to its existence. A portion of the camp was near 
and directly west of it, and the stones of their fire places are 
yet to be seen. This is known as the camp ground to-day, 
and is on the et\ge of what was called the rice meadows. — 
We derive additional proof that there was such a building- 



136 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

there at that time from the fact that when General La Fay- 
ette visited Newburgh, it was part of the arrangements of 
the committee appointed to dispense the hospitalities of the 
country to that veteran and patriot chief, to convey him to 
the different places where he had so frequently seen the army 
encamped, and to the site of the Temple, where he had so 
often met to worship God with his compatriots, and the friend 
and father of his country. Many of our citizens, who had a 
part in the transactions of that most grateful day, may re- 
member the facts heie stated, though, in consequence of the 
non- arrival of the General till after night- fall, this duty re- 
mained unperformed by the committee. 

But we are not confined to this indirect and circumstantial 
proof, for we have it of the most direct and positive charac- 
ter from a living witness, as previously remarked. Robert 
R. Burnet, Esq. of New Windsor, during the war of the Rev- 
olution, was a Lieutenant in Capt. Stephen's company, and 
stationed at West Point, in command of Redoubt No. 3, and 
was sent a delegate to the meeting of officers called by Wash- 
ington to put down the effect of the Newburgh Letters. He 
attended and heard the unsurpassed address made on that oc- 
casion, and says it was held at a building called the Temple, 
erected and seated as a place of worship for the army, situ- 
ate on the farm between Major Morton's and Mr. David 
Munn's, south of Snake Hill, which is the farm of Jabez 
Atwood, deceased. 

For the evidence of this fact, we are indebted to our friend 
Thomas McKissock, Esq., who kindly volunteered to procure 
it. Though this building was erected as a place of worship 
for the army it was called the Temple, as we have been in- 
formed, because the fraternity of free and accepted masons, 
very popular at that day, and of which body of respectable 
men, most of the officers were probably members, used and 
occupied it, as the place of meeting. 

Washington was initiated into the mysteries of free-mason- 
ry in the winter of 1779-80, while he had his Head Quarters 
in Morristown, New Jersey. They built there, as here, a 
large commissary's store house, and reserved the upper part 
for a ball room, and a mason's lodge. This building is still 
standing and used as a tavern, called the Morris Hotel. 

We are therefore of opinion, and most firmly believe, that 
this Temple, considering its location — surrounded by the 
army, its magnitude, time, and purpose of erection — was 
emphatically both the public building and the new building 
referred to in the Newburgh Letters, and order of General 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 137 

Washington. All the facts here stated conspire to establish 
this opinion, and we leave it in the full belief it never will, 
nor can be questioned. In this point of view, the old glebe 
school house has no very interesting or patriotic associations 
connected with it, growing out of the war of the Revolution, 
or station of the army in New burgh ; and although we re- 
gret to part with it, as we would with an old and dear friend, 
from whom we had experienced a thousand kindnesses, and 
for years held sweet converse together — we are this day com- 
pelled by the force of tradition and veritable history, to dis- 
card and rob it of all its historic glory. The effort to do so 
is rendered less poinful from the fact, that the guardians of 
the glebe have overthrown and demolished the fabric, and 
we now come in at this late day, to execute the easy deed of 
blighting its heretofore good character and reputation. 

Of Mr. Burnet we state an interesting fact, which few in 
this State have witnessed : he has seen seven generations of 
his own family — his great grand-father, grand- father, father, 
himself, his children, his grand children, and his great grand- 
children. We do not remember that we have ever heard a 
case like this in modern times. This gentleman, we believe, 
is of Scotch ancestors on the paternal side, and Irish on the 
maternal. His age is 85, and we see him frequently in the 
streets of the village, attending to business as if a man of 
fifty, after riding several miles from his residence in New 
Windsor. We are gratified in being aide to present a witness 
of such intelligence and worth to establish the fact in ques- 
tion. May he go down to his grave like a shock of corn ripe 
for the harvest ! 

There was a parsonage house attached to this little church, 
according to the English custom, located somewhere in the 
Old Town, in the vicinity of the church, and worthy a 
special note of remembrance, from the fact that old Mr. 
Hutchins, celebrated all over the State for many years, as 
a maker of Almanacks — lived and kept school in it. This 
was probably the glebe school, and taught there in the place 
of the church, which was in a dilapidated condition. This 
Mr. Hutchins was one of the great and useful men of his day, 
for no one but a Philosopher or School Master could make 
the necessary calculations for such a purpose, unless assisted 
by the old gentleman, or some of his imps duly skilled in the 
black art. It is with great respect, and the kindest remem- 
brance we thus publicly name this aged pedagogue and wise 
calculating philospher; for in those days, without his calcu- 
lations, we could scarcely keep the fast run of time, know 



138 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

the approach of the Sabbath, or when the luminous sun in 
his annual course would be shorn of his beams, or the full- 
faced moon in her midnight walk put out and obliterated. — 
We now acknowledge the benefits, kindness and intelligence 
then received, and though Hutchins sleeps in an honored 
grave, unmoved by our grateful remembrance, we still take 
pride and pleasure in making this late offering to his fame 
and memory. 

The particulars above stated were derived through our 
friend Mr. McKissock, like ourselves disposed to look into 
these old matters, from Mr. James Donally, an aged and re- 
spectable individual of this town, who has carried them in 
his iron memory since a small boy, and are uninjured by the 
uncertainty of tradition. To Mr. Donally we tender our re- 
spects for the materials which fill a page of our paper. 

Having called the reader's attention to the "Newburgh 
Letters," and the address made by Washington to arrest their 
influence with the officers, we think it proper to lay the prin- 
cipal letter, with the address before the reader. What are 
called the " Newburgh Letters " consisted first of a short 
notice to the officers of the army, to meet at a certain time 
and place specified, which meeting never took place ; Sec- 
ondly, a letter dated and published on tbc same day of the 
notice, addressed to and circulated among the officers at the 
Newburgh encampment, along the River, and in the High- 
lands ; and Thirdly, a short one, not exceeding a page or so, 
written and published after Washington appointed his meet- 
ing, calculated to show that the subject on which the writer 
proposed to call them together, was not only important and 
proper, but approved of by Washington, inasmuch as he had 
convoked them for consultation on the same matters. The 
first is the principal and celebrated letter, and a beautiful 
specimen of bold, declamatory and indignant eloquence — 
worthy a better cause, and only equalled by the best pro- 
ductions of Junius — most admirably calculated to stimulate 
and rouse to action the already excited and chafed feelings 
of the American officers. The youth of the country ought, to 
be well acquainted with both the productions referred to ; for 
the style and manner of the one, and the calm, dignified, and 
fatherly sentiments of the other. We would not object against 
the labor of committing them to memory. 

If the letter was eminently calculated to produce the in- 
tended effect, the answer by Washington was equally calcu- 
lated to arrest the poisoned chalice, so artfully drugged ; — 
and coming as it did from the patriot hero, in the solemn ac- 






TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 139 

cents of fatherly admonition, must have been overwhelming 
in its effects upon the minds of the officers. We are told by 
one who heard it that it was truly so, and that all of them 
who were present, appeared deeply convinced and satisfied 
by his argument and counsel. 

It was upon this occasion that Washington while putting 
on his glasses to read his address, is said to have remarked : 
" Gentlemen, you see that I have not only grown grey, but 
blind in your service." The time, place and circumstance 
were a potent argument of themselves. 

For the benefit of our young readers, it is proper to remark 
that the officers addressed by the letters had served through 
the war of the Revolution, — that preliminary terms of peace 
had been agreed on by the two Governments — that the officers 
had expended their own means, with the pittance of their 
dues received from Government — that many of them were 
poor indeed, worn out in a seven years' war, — and that hav- 
ing petitioned Congress to make some certain provision to 
pay them for their services, and, being turned away with 
empty promises, they were now about to be discharged and 
sent adrift upon the world, without compensation by the 
country, whose independence they had fought and bled to 
establish. This was the condition of public affairs, and the 
almost desperate situation of the officers, when they were 
called upon to meet and consult by the "Newburgh Letters." 

To the Officers of the Army: 

Gentlemen, — A fellow soldier, whose interest and affections bind him 
strongly to you, whose past sufferings have been as great, and whose future 
fortune may be as desperate as yours — begs leave to address you. 

Age has it claims, and rank is not without its pretensions to advise: but, 
though unsupported by both, he flatters himself, that the plain language of 
sincerity and experience will neither be unheard nor unregarded. 

L ; ke many of you he loved private life, and left it with regret. He left it, 
determined to retire from the field, with the necessity that called him to it, 
and not until then —not until the enemies of his country, the slaves of power, 
and the hirelings of injustice, were compelled to abandon their schemes, and 
acknowledge America as terrible in arms as she had been humble in remon- 
strance. With this object in view, he has long shared in your toils and 
mingled ir. your dangers. — He has felt the cold hand of poverty without a 
murmur, and has seen the insolence of wealth without a sigh — But, too 
much under the direction of his wishes, and sometimes weak enough to mis- 
take desire for opinion, he has until lately — very lately believed in the justice 
of his country. He hoped, that as the clouds of adversity scattered, and as 
the sunshine of peace and better fortune broke in upon us, the coldness and 
severity of government would relax, and that more than justice, that grati- 
tude would blaze forth upon those hands which had upheld her, in the dark- 
est stages of her passage, from impending servitude to acknowledged inde- 
pendence. But faith has its limits, as well as temper, and there are points 



140 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

beyond which neither can be stretched, without sinking into cowardice, or 
plunging into credulity. — This my friends ] conceive to be your situation. — 
Hurried to the very verge of both, another step would ruin you forever. — 
To be tame and unprovoked when injuries press hard upon you, is more than 
weakness; but to look up for kinder usage, without one manly effort of 
your own, would fix your character, and show the world how richly you 
deserve those chains you broke. To guard against this evil, let us a take a 
review of the ground upon which we now stand, and from thence carry our 
thoughts forward for a moment, into the unexplored field of expedient. 

After a pursuit of seven long years, the object for which we set out is at 
length brought within our reach — yes, mv friends, that suffering 'courage of 
yours was active once— it has conducted the United States of America through 
a doubtful and bloody war. Tt has placed her in the chair of independency 
and peace returns again to bless — whom ? — a country willing to redress your 
wrongs, cherish your worth, and reward your services? a country courting 
your return to private life, with tears of gratitude, and smiles of admiration, 
longing to divide with you that independency which your gallantry has 
given, and those riches which your wounds have preserved ? Is this the 
case ? or is it lather a country that tramples upon your rights, disdains your 
cries, and insults your distresses ? have you not more than once suggested 
your wishes, and made known your wants to Congress ? wants and wishes 
which gratitude and policy should have anticipated rather than evaded; 
and have you not lately in the meek language of entreating memorials, beg- 
ged from their justice what you could no longer expect from their favor? 
how have you been answered ? let the letter which you are called to con- 
sider to-morrow reply 

If this, then, be your treatment while the swords you wear are necessary 
for the defence of America, what have you to expect from peace, when your 
voice shall sink, and your strength dissipate by division ? when those very 
swords, the instruments and companions of your glory, shall be taken from 
your sides, and no remaining mark of military distinction left but your 
want, infirmities, and scars ? Can you consent to be the only sufferers by 
this revolution, and retiring from the field, grow old in poverty, wretched- 
ness and contempt? can you consent to wade through the vile mire of de- 
pendency, and owe the miserable remnant of that life to charity, which has 
hitherto been spent in honor? If you can — go — and carry with you the 
jest of tories and the scorn of whigs — the ridicule, and what is worse, the 
pity of the world. Go, starve, and be forgotten ! but if your spirit should 
revolt at this ; if you have sense enough to discover, and spirit enough to 
oppose tyrrany under whatever garb it may assume ; whether it be the plain 
coat of republicanism, or the splendid robe of royalty ; if you have yet learn- 
ed to discriminate between a people and a cause, between men aud princi- 
ples — awake ; attend to your situation and redress yourselves. If the pres- 
ent moment be lost, every future effort is vain ; and your threats then, will 
be as empty as your entreaties now. 

1 would advise you, therefore, to come to some final opinion upon what 
you can bear, and what you will suffer. If your determination be in any 
proportion to your wrongs, carry your appeal from the justice to the fears of 
the government. Change the milk and water style of your last memorial; 
assume a bolder tone — decent, but lively, spirited and determined, and sus- 
pect the man who would advise to more moderation and forbearance. Let 
two or three men who can feel as well as write, be appointed to draw up 
your last remonstrance : for I would no longer give it the sueing, soft, un- 
successful epithet of memorial. Let it be represented in language that will 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 141 

neither dishonor you by its rudeness, nor betray you by its fears, what has 
been promised by Congress, and what has been performed — how long and 
how patiently you have suffered— how little you have asked, and how much 
of that little has been denied. Tell them that, though you were the first, 
and would wish to be the last to encounter danger, though despair itself can 
never drive you into dishonor, it may drive you from the field : that the 
wound often irritated, and never healed, may at length become incurable; 
and that the slightest mark of indignity from Congress now must operate 
Jike the grave, and part you forever: that in any political event, the army 
has its alternative. If peace, that nothing shall separate you from your 
arms but death : if war, that courting the auspices, and inviting the directions 
of your illustrious leader, you will retire to some unsettled country, smile in 
your turn, and " mock when their fear cometh on." But let it represent 
also, that they should comply with the request of your late memorial, it 
would make you more bappy, and them more respectable. That while war 
should continue, you would follow their standard into the field, and when 
it came to an end you would withdraw into the shade of private life, and 
give the world another subject of wonder and applause; an army victorious 
over its enemies — victorious over itself. 

ADDRESS OF WASHINGTON. 

Gentlemen: — By an anonymous summons an attempt has been made to 
convene you together. How inconsistent with the rules of propriety, how 
unmilitary, and how subversive of all order and discipline, let the good 
sense of the army decide. 

In the moment of this summons, another anonymous production was sent 
into circulation, addressed more to the feelings and passions than to the judg- 
ment of the army. The author of the piece is entitled to much credit for 
the goodness of his pen : and I could wish he had as much credit for the recti- 
tude of his heart; for, as men see through different optics, and are induced 
by the reflecting faculties of the mind, to use different means to attain the 
same end, the author of the address should have had more chanty than to 
mark for suspicion the man who should recommend moderation and further 
forbearance; or in other words, who should not think as he thinks, and act 
as he advises. But he had another plan in view, in which candor and libe- 
rality of sentiment, regard to justice and love of country, had no part: and 
he was right to insinuate the darkest suspicion to effect the blackest design. 
That the address was drawn with great art, and is designed to answer the 
most insidious purposes ; that it is calculated to impress the mind with an 
idea of premeditated injustice in the sovereign power of the United States, 
and rouse all these resentments which must unavoidably flow from such a 
belief; that the secret mover of this scheme, whoever he may be, intended 
to take advantage of the passions, while they were warmed by the recollec- 
tion of past distresses, without giving time for cool, deliberative thinking, 
and that composure of mind which is so necessary to give dignity and sta- 
bility to measures, is rendered too obvious, by the mode of conducting the 
business, to need other proof than a reference to the proceedings. 

Thus much, gentlemen, I have thought it incumbent on me to observe to 
you, to show upon what principles I opposed the irregular and hasty meet- 
ing which was proposed to have been held on Tuesday last, and not be- 
cause I wanted a disposition to give you every opportunity, consistent with 
your own honor, and the dignity of the army, to make known your grievan- 
ces. If my conduct heretofore has not evinced to you, that 1 have been a 
faithful friend to the army, my declaration of it at this time would be equally 



142 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

unavailing and improper. But as J am among the first who embarked in the 
cause of our common country; as I have never left your side one moment, 
but when called from you on public duty ; as I have been the constant com» 
panion and witness of your distresses,, and not among the last to feel and 
acknowledge your merits; as I have ever considered my own military repu- 
tation as inseparably connected with that of the army ; as my heart has ever 
expanded with joy when I have heard its praises, and my indignation has 
arisen when the mouth of detraction has been opened against it; it can 
scarcely be supposed at this last stage of the war, that I am indifferent to 
its interests. But how are they to be promoted ? the way is plain, says the 
anonymous addresser ! If war continues, remove into the unsettled country ; 
there establish yourselves, and leave an ungrateful country to defend itself! 
But who are they to defend ? our wives, our children, our farms and other 
property which we leave behind us ? or in this state of hostile separation, 
are we to take the two first, (the latter cannot be removed) to perish in a 
wilderness, with hunger, cold, and nakedness. 

" If peace takes place, never sheath your swords," says he "until you 
have obtained full and ample justice." This dreadful alternative of either 
deserting our country in the extremest hour of her distress, or turning our 
arms against it, which is the apparent object, unless Congress can be com- 
pelled into instant compliance, has something so shocking in it, that human- 
ity revolts at the idea. JNIyGod! what can this writer have in view by 
recommending such measures ? can he be a friend to the army? can he be a 
friend to this country ? rather is he not an insidious foe; some emissary, 
perhaps, from New York, plotting the ruin of both, by sowing the seeds of 
discord and separation between the civil and military powers of the conti- 
nent? and what a compliment does he pay 10 our understandings, when he 
recommends measures, in either alternative, impracticable in their nature! 
but here gentlemen I would drop the curtain, because it woisld be as impru- 
dent in me to assign my reasons for this opinion, as it would be insulting to 
your conception to suppose you stood in need of them. A moment's reflec- 
tion will convince every dispassionate mind of the physical impossibility 
of carrying either proposal into execution. There might, gentlemen, be an 
impropriety in my taking notice, in this address to yorj, of an anonymous 
production ;— but the manner in which that performance has been introduced 
to the army ; the effect it was intended to have, together with some other 
circumstances, will amply justify my observations on the tendency of that 



writing. 



With respect to the advice given by the author, to suspect the man who 
shall recommend moderate measures and longer forbearance, I spurn it, as 
every man who regards that liberty and reveres that justice for which we 
contend, undoubtedly must; for, if men are to be precluded from offering 
their sentiments on a matter which may involve the. most serious and alarm- 
ing consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of 
no use to us. The freedom of speech may be- taken away, and dumb and 
silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. I cannot, in justice to my 
own belief, and what I have great reason to conceive is the intention of 
Congress, conclude this address, without giving it as my decided opinion* 
that, that honorable body entertain exalted sentiments of the services of the 
army, and from a full conviction of its merits and sufferings will do complete- 
justice. That their endeavors to discover and establish funds for this pur- 
pose have been unwearied, and \v'i\l not cease until they have succeeded, I 
have not a doubt. 

But like all other large bodies r where there is. a variety of different inter- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBUEGH. 143 

<?sts to reconcile their determinations are slow. Why then should we dis- 
trust them ? and in consequence of that distrust, adopt measures which may 
casta shade over that glory which has been so justly acquired, and tarnish 
the reputation of an army which is celebrated throughout all Europe for its 
fortitude and patriotism ? and for what is this done ? to bring the object we 
seek nearer? no; most certainly in my opinion, il will cast it at a greater 
distance. For myself, (and 1 lake no merit in giving the assurance, being 
induced to it from principles of gratitude, veracity and justice, and a grateful 
sense of the confidence you have placed in me,) a recollection of the cheerful 
assistance and prompt obedience I have experienced from you under every 
vicissitude of fortune, and the sincere affection I feel for an army I have so 
Jong had the honor to command will oblige me to declare in this public and 
solemn manner, that in the attainment of complete justice for all your toils 
and dangers, and in the gratification of every wish, so far as may be done 
consistently with the great duty I owe my country, and those powers we 
are bound to respect, you may freely command my services to the utmost 
extent of my abilities. 

" While 1 give you these assurances, and pledge myself in the most une- 
quivocal manner, to exert whatever abilities I am possessed of in your favor, 
let me entreat you, gentlemen, on your part, not to take any measures, 
which viewed in the calm light of reason, will lessen the dignity, and sully 
the glory you have hitherto maintained : — let me request you to rely on the 
plighted faith of your country, and place a full confidence in the purity of 
the intentions of Congress; that, previous to your dissolution as an aimy, 
they will cause all your accounts to he fairly liquidated as directed in the 
resolutions which were published to you two days ago; and that they will 
adopt the most effectual measures in their power to render ample justice to 
you for your faithful and meritorious services. And let me conjure you in 
the name of our common country, as you value your own sacred honor ; as 
you respect the rights of humanity; and as you regard the military and na- 
tional character of America ; to express the utmost horror and detestation 
ot the man, who wishes, under any specious pretences, to overturn the lib- 
erties of our country ; and who wickedly attempts to open the flood gates 
of civil discord, and deluge our rising empire in blood. 

By thus determining, and thus acting, you will pursue the pl'ain and di- 
rect road to the attainment of your wishes ; you will defeat the insidious de- 
signs of our enemies, who are compelled to resort from open force to secret 
artifice. You will give one more distinguished proof of unexampled pa- 
triotism and patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure of the most com- 
plicated sufferings; and you will, by the dignity of your conduct, afford oc- 
casion for posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have 
exhibited to mankind — had this day been wanting the world had never seen 
the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining." 

But there are other associations which cling - to, and linger 
around this old, Jong and narrow building, of which it can- 
not be divested without violence, nor shuflled olT in this sum- 
mary manner. For more than a hundred years, the dear 
children of the patent, rich and poor together, visited this 
house, and crowded its low and narrow benches. It was a 
free school for all the children on the patent. Here they 
drank in. the first elements of virtue and knowledge to fit and 
prepare them to discharge the active duties of life. What 



144 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

has become of this large army of human beings gathered from 
four generations'? After acting their individual parts of va- 
ried character in the great drama of human life, they have 
passed on to that bourne, from which no traveller returns, the 
country and humanity, the while, benefited by their exis- 
tence. The bell, which long hung in and adorned its mod- 
est cupola, the tones of which were so pleasant and grateful 
to the ear, and called this infant army, from year to year, to 
the business of the day, where is if? From delicacy, or fear 
offence, no response is made, and we can only say the knowl- 
edge of its loss is deeply buried beneath the rubbish of time, 
or now, its name and history forgotten, doles out its aged 
and tremulous tones in another service. But this bell per- 
formed a more holy office. Our fathers were a religious peo- 
ple (we trust their descendants are,) and buildings to wor- 
ship God followed quick in the train of every settlement, and 
the minister and schoolmaster in close affinity, walked arm 
in arm together. They were first provided for, and the set- 
tlement could no more get along and advance in prosperity 
without them, in the judgment of our ancestors, than it could 
without God himself. The sun, strong in his morning glory, 
is hisrh in the heavens — hark ! the bell of the settlement tolls 
in measured time, the hour of worship. The day is the 
Sabbath. The settlement is still and hushed throughout, 
the deep feelings inspired by the solemnity of the day, have 
shut out the voice of mirth and hum of business, and no 
voice is heard, save the soft sigh of the breeze and the song of 

the robin. 

"The Sabbath, like Time's angel, smiles, 

And hushed its early care; 
And labor now may cease his toils, 

And tread the court of prayer; 
No sound in festive hall is heard, 

No song in lady's bower ; 
Peace, and her sister Silence guaid — 

Sure! 'tis the hallowed hour." 

The gathering throng, with intervals between, both long 
and many, all bending their way to the house of God, assem- 
ble from all directions, and crowd the temple gate. Now 
the loud and solemn voice of the people is lifted in a song of 
praise. Its volume rises on the air like incense, and ascends 
a grateful offering from pious and devout worshippers. A 
pause ensues, still as the grave; the shepherd of the flock 
rises, and looking up into heaven, invokes God to bless the 
people, and on the confession of their sins, to save them with 
his everlasting salvation* No tongue can tell the efficiency 



TILLAGE OF NEWBUHGH. 146 

and blessed effects of one single prayer. But this army of 
worshippers also, has descended to the tomb, and the record 
of eternity alone can enumerate the host of immortals called 
to glory from this ancient and modest building. We seek not 
to divest it of one sacred association, lest we injure thedead and 
insult the living. We would not, if we could, and leave the 
record, with its contents, to the pen of the recording angel. 

" 'Twas a low buildng reared by pious hands, 
'Midst the deep foliage of the darksome wood, 
Poor was its state, and many years had told 
Their passing seasons o'er its humble roof; 
Relentless time had grasped the lowly gate, 
And crumbling dust bespoke its fearful might. 
The mouldering door way and the falling walls, 
The creaking pulpit and its aged cloth, 
The glassless frames and time worn sacred book, 
The worn out seats and cold forsaken aisle, 
Seemed in the dimness of the evening shade 
The fearful relics of departed years, 
Untouched of earth and sacred made to Heaven." 

But there was still another building, of deeper and more 
widely extended interest to the inhabitants of the village, 
than eithet the new building, the public building, or glebe 
school house, and as its existence was the basis of a future 
structure, still we trust broadly dispensing its benefits, we re-- 
fer to it. The site now occupied by the First Presbyterian 
meeting house, during the Revolution was occupied by a pub- 
lie storehouse, for the accommodation of the army. When 
the war closed, and the army left, this building was per- 
mitted to remain, and such of the citizens as were not disposed 
to worship in the glebe church, which was Episcopal, took 
possession of the store, and used it as a place of public wor- 
ship for some years. By accident or design, this building was 
burned down, and a small congregation having been collect- 
ed in the meantime, the destruction imposed the necessity of 
erecting another, which was done. If correctly informed, 
this also, in whole or part, was destroyed by fire ; but be that 
as it may, the present meeting house, as it was originally^ 
without a steeple, and before its last repair and enlargement, 
was put up as the result of the accident. This last frame 
when erected was left unfinished— a mere shell, like the old 
store house ; for the congregation was too poor and feeble, 
either to finish or place pews in it. Then, as now, there 
were individuals, like Gallileo, who cared for none of these 
things, and the shell remained in this condition for some 
years. In this crisis, a new plan was devised to seat it, 

J 



146 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

which was, that every member of the congregation who 
chose to do it, might put up his own pew, and have choice 
of location, as a bonus for his action and good will in the 
matter. This was a direct appeal to pride, means and piety, 
and it would have been strange if it had not succeeded to 
some extent, even in so limited a congregation of people. — 
In an humble life, there are few spots where we can truly 
take pride in standing a moment to reflect, and this is one of 
them ; for with feelings of grateful respect, mingled with de- 
votion, we are advised to say, on the testimony of living 
witnesses, John McAuley was the first individual who built a 
regular pew in this barn of a church, and sat an example 
worthy of imitation. We are also justified in saying that this 
individual while he had the means, gave with a free heart 
and open hand, and neither begrudged nor doled out his 
church benefactions. May he receive his reward therefor 
in the world to which he has removed! The name of this 
man, and his services in this respect, enhanced in value ten 
fold by the times in which they were rendered, are now lost 
and forgotten by this new generation, beneath the rubbish 
of the old, and the richer adornment of the new building. — 
Mr. Hugh Walsh and Richard Wood quickly made locations 
and built their pews. Others at intervals did the same, 
and received deeds for the extent of their settlements. These 
pews were large, and made two slips in the present mode of 
seating. May we and all others, the descendants of these 
fathers of the church, bless God for putting it into their 
hearts to build this temple and furnish it as a place of wor- 
ship. This erection of seats went on for some time, till they 
were seen one, two, or three in a place, scattered around the 
building in the most ludicrous manner, when the congrega- 
tion completed the work out of its own funds. 

Among the early settlers of this village, and those extensive- 
ly engaged in business, we name Jonathan Hasbrouck and his 
son Isaac Hasbrouck, Benjamin Smith, Isaac Belknap and 
Isaac Belknap, jr., his son, John Mandeyille, John McAuley, 
George Gardner, James Renwick, Derick Amcrman, Leon- 
ard Carpenter, Jacob Carpenter, William Seymour, Jame» 
Donnelly, John Dubois, Joseph Hodman, Robert Ludlow, 
Thomas Powell, Jacob Powell, Jason Rogers, Martin Wey- 
gant, Robert Gardiner, John D. Lawson, Alex. Falls, Rob- 
ert Gourlay, James Burns, Daniel Nivcn, Capt. Hudson, 
Capt. Beebe, Daniel Niven,jr., James Bate, Adolph Degrove, 

Howell, Benjamin Case, Capt. Benjamin Case, John 

Anderson, Edward Howell, Jonathan Carter,Samucl Wright, 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 14T 

and James Humphrey. Some of these individuals were here 
before the Revolution and others came in close upon the 
heels of it, and others still at a later period. Smith, Has- 
brouck, and Renwick were the principal owners of the land, 
now covered by (he village south of the Glebe. 

After the Rebellion in Ireland in 1798, some of its noble- 
hearted patriots, who had dared to breathe freely, and lift up 
an arm and voice for liberty, fled to this country from the 
tyrrany and oppression of the English Government. This 
class of emigrants was far above the ordinary grade, and 
some of them settled in and near the village. John Brown, 
John Abercrombie, John Caldwell,, his sons, John, Andrew, 
and Richard, James Hamilton, John Parks and Alex. Dennis- 
ton were among the number, some of whose descendants are 
now enterprising and industrious business men of the place. 

OUR ANCESTORS. 

4i It is the advice of a sage that the history of Revolutions 
should be written neither so long after they have happened, 
that many of their events will be forgotten ; nor so immedi- 
ately after they have occurred, as to preclude it from being 
executed with the requisite impartiality." 

What is true of Histoiy as a general rule, is equally so of 
Biography — the great mass of the one being but the embodi- 
ment of the more interesting and important acts of individu- 
als. If you strike Biography from History you leave not a 
wreck behind. The very good and bad actions of men, like 
good and bad spirits, pervade and constitute all history. — 
The individuals, generally, of whom we shall speak have 
been gathered to their fathers ; some a longer and others a 
shorter period, but not so long since as to be wholly covered 
up by the dust and obscurity of years. 

In the remarks made by the Hon. Daniel Webster, at the 
celebration of the New England Society at Washington, on 
the 22d of December, 1845, he observed : " It i3 wise for us 
to recur to the history of our ancestors. Those who are re- 
gardless of the history of our ancestors and their posterity — 
who do not look upon themselves as a link connecting the 
past with the future, in the transmission of life from their an- 
cestors to their posterity, do not perform their duty to the 
world. To be faithful to ourselves, we must keep our ances- 
tors and posterity within reach and grasp of our thoughts and 
affections, living in the memory and retrospect of the past, 
and hoping with affection and care for those who are to come 
after us. We are true to ourselves only when we act witk 



148 TILLAGE OF IfEWBURGH. 

becoming pride for the blood we inherit, and which we are 
to transmit to those who shall fill our places." 

In planting us on these pleasant shores — in cutting down 
the stately forest, and clearing up these smiling hills and 
vales around us — in fighting the battles of the country — in 
declaring and maintaining in an undying charter our civil 
and religious rights, a guarantee of life, liberty and property 
— in laying broad and deep the foundation of universal edu- 
cation by common schools and academies to instruct and edu* 
cate our children in knowledge and morals — in establishing 
precedents for the world in furtherance of human rights, 
which are hurrying on with resistless energy, the drift of 
empire to the west, our ancestors have achieved most won- 
derful things for us. The world itself now clad in the hoary 
vestments of antiquity, and governed by time honored insti- 
tutions tbat are crumbling around her, before many ages 
shall have rolled away, will cast her idols to the moles and 
bats, bring her offering, and place it upon the popular altar 
of human rights. The very earth we tread cries aloud for 
gratitude, and by a thousand considerations of pride, patriot- 
ism, and future expectations, imperiously admonish that we 
remember and cherish the names and deeds of our ancestors 
with devout and filial regard. 

"The years that greet each sister land, 

Shall lift the country of my birth 
And nurse her strength, till she shall stand 

The pride and pattern of the earth; 
Till younger commonwealths for aid, 

Shall cling about her ample robe, 
And from her frown shall shrink afraid, 

The crowned oppressors of the globe." 

To track up our origin to stars, garters, or embattled cas- 
tles — to lords, knights, or esquires— is as vain as fruitless, 
for we are not of patrician blood. We speak of them gene- 
rally, but doubtless there are many exceptions. We can 
name two families in one town, the ancestors of one of 
which, revelled for centuries in Ludlow castle, England ; 
while the other is directly descended from the celebrated 
house of Tudor, which united the contending factions of 
York and Lancaster, and blended the white and red rose in 
one harmonious regal flower, and gave illustrious Kings and 
Queens to the British Throne. These things are certainly 
not objectionable, but we shall consume no time in finding 
them out. 

On this point we may say in part with a Knight of Malta, 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 149 

who, on being inquired of in relation to the genuineness and 
respectability of his descent, drawing his sword, exclaimed : 
"Here is my father and mother, and here" (scattering a 
handful of gold among his soldiers) "are all my relationi 
and progenitors." 

The deeds performed by our immediate ancestors truly en- 
nobled them. Their patents were from heaven, and the race 
of mankind will yet acknowledge them to have been gen- 
uine. The best blood of continental Europe in one com- 
mingled stream, now warms and animates the sons of free- 
men here : and looking round upon the institutions of this 
glorious and happy land, with a pious thought for our an- 
cestors, ought we not to be content? They sprang from the 
private and more humble walks of life, where it had been 
their fate to be persecuted and oppressed by immemorial 
usage. They were of that class who had fought for centu- 
ries the battle fields of Europe, plied the mechanic arts, or 
cultivated the soil for the pleasure and support of the higher 
orders. They were of that class where industry, virtue and 
forbearance have ever been found on earth among men and 
nations ; and where a sigh for freedom, and a condition in 
life dawned upon by brighter hopes for the future, was often 
heard to escape from honest and patriot hearts. Casting be- 
hind their regrets for the land of their fathers, and as if con- 
strained by a dire necessity, with which no farther compro- 
mise could be made, they braved the hidden dangers of the 
ocean, the deep howl of the tempest, and came to these shores 
pilgrims and strangers in search of a better country. These 
were our fathers and mothers, and we revere their memory. 
Some of them, or their immediate descendants, will be no- 
ticed in our paper. 

It does not follow that an individual is unworthy of re- 
membrance because he has not sacked a city, nor slain hi* 
thousands — has not sat in high places, and controlled the 
national councils, discovered a star, nor owned the fee of an 
estate. On the contrary, those who have done all they rea- 
sonably could in the stations they occupied in private or 
public affairs, may have exerted an influence as permanently 
beneficial in a thousand ways, as those in more elevated sit- 
uations. The question is not, How much good have they 
accomplished? or, What great actions have they achieved? — 
but have they employed to reasonable advantage their limit- 
ed means, and ever been equal to the parts assigned them ? 
The sun in his splendor may throw off his golden beams to 
illumine, vivify and fructify the earth during the day, but 



150 VILLAGE OF NEWBTJRGH. 

what of the beauty and solemn grandeur of the night without 
the pale lustre of the moon, and all the varied garniture of 
the smaller lights which so wisely and beneficently adorn it? 
The heavenly bodies are not all equally large and magnifi- 
cent, but each performs its duty in the sphere assigned it. 

In the language of Mr. Webster, " It is wise for us to re- 
cur to the history of our ancestors." The fust settlers of a 
country impart tone and character to its institutions, and the 
habits and manners of the people, which are seen and felt 
for many succeeding years. Lessons of wisdom are drawn 
as well from the ignoble as the noble — 'from the ant as from 
the elephant. For our ancestors we claim no particular ex- 
emption from human frailty and vices incident to all con- 
ditions. Like all others they were of good and bad character, 
with a large proportion of the virtuous class. If, on looking 
them over and counting them up, we occasionally encounter 
the positively bad, they are not to be thrown from the cata- 
logue on that account, with the hope of covering up true pa- 
rentage, lest the chain of descent be broken. It is our busi- 
ness to learn lessons of usefulness from all, and express our 
gratitude. The conduct of bad men teach the young lessons, 
oftentimes valuable and enduring. The general course of 
the good and vicious are beacons along the path of life, one 
to be sought out and run to for safety and protection, the 
other, to be known and avoided. 

In our reflections upon the character and conduct of our 
forefathers, there is much that is personal and agreeable to 
the feelings. We own and adopt them as members of the 
family, think, speak of, and doaton them as nearly allied to 
us, though not one drop of their blood deepens the color of 
our own. We share their respect and renown, and glory in 
their fame. We appropriate them to ourselves and make them 
ours. We feel as they felt, pity and weep over their hardships 
and misfortunes. The characters contemplated may not all 
be as pure and unexceptionable as the most fastidious could 
desire, still we must take the agreeable with that which is 
les3so, not extenuate or set down aught in malice, and 
hold them up to public view, as a father who, while he laments 
the conduct of a wayward child, points the minds of the other 
children to the example, as one to be avoided and shunned. 



James Renwick, above named, built the dock, and did 
business at what is now called Norris's dock, at the south part 
of the village. He possessed the farm now owned by Capt. 
Robinson, formerly Judge Gardner. This individual was 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 151 

enterprising 1 , noble-minded , a pretty free liver, and withal, 
not over fond of money. To interest the farmers of the coun- 
ty in his new establishment, and build it up as a place of 
business, he was in the habit of giving deeds for small lots in 
the vicinity of the dock, to his customers, without considera- 
tion, and when they would refuse to take them, as they often 
did, on the ground of being of no value to them, tendered them 
to their children with the assurance they would be worth 
something in their day. Some ten years ago, when water 
lots were in demand in the village, enquiry was made for the 
owners of the Kenwick lots, and after great search many of 
them were found, who never knew, or had forgotten that 
they owned such valuable property. In this there was a 
wise forecast of mind, mingled with the kindest good will on 
the part of Mr. Renwick, and an example not frequently 
found in our day. 

Gen. Isaac Belkap. — There is an anecdote told of this 
gentleman, while a boy of 16, and as it is connected with 
the Revolution, a subject always dear to our citizens, and 
shows the temper and young ambition of the individual, 
we will relate it. During the summer of the year in which 
Fort Montgomery was taken by the English, young Belknap 
was sent by his father with his mother and children into the 
now town of Crawford, upon a farm near Graham's church, 
with some cattle and sheep to pasture there, and the young 
man to take care of them. After young Belknap conveyed 
his mother, family and stock to Mr. Gillespie's, he returned, 
visited his father's house, removed the sash out of the 
windows, took all the kitchen furniture and dug a hole in 
the garden and buried them. This was done to make 
the house appear old and deserted, and in case the English 
should land at the place, as it Was expected, they would 
give it no tittention, and the house escape destruction. — 
Having accomplished this, the young man returned to his 
mother. At this time his father was out in the service of the 
country. 

This was a wise and timely precaution on the part of Mr. 
Belknap, and anticipated the orders of the Committee of 
Safetv by some months. It was thought if the English should 
ascend the river, they would probably land in many places 
on both sides, for the express purpose, if no other, of sup- 
plying themselves with fresh provisions. The council of 
Safety anticipated such a result, and to protect the inhabi- 
tants in the possession of their property, and prevent the 
same from contributing to the necessities of the enemy, on 



152 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

the day that Fort Montgomery was taken, October 7, 1777, 
resolved that certain committees appointed for the purpose, 
should forthwith cause all cattle, live stock, &c. to be re- 
moved from the banks of both sides of the river, except such 
as they should judge necessary for the present use and bene- 
fit of the owners, and keep them in the interior of the coun- 
try under the direction of keepers appointed by them for the 
purpose. The keepers were to make a return to Robert 
Benson of the number, places kept at, &c. 

On the 8th of October, 1777, the Committee of Safety 
passed the following resolution on the subject to carry out 
their previous determination. 

Resolved, That the President be directed to send without delay, by ex- 
press, to the respective committees the Resolutions passed yesterday, for the 
removal from places near the banks of the Hudson river, all cattle, live 
stock, etc., and that he be empowered to impress persons and horses for the 
purpose. 

The danger anticipated, we believe did not befall the in- 
habitants of Orange, though the English did ascend the river, 
burn Kingston, and pillage other counties. 

After being there some time, and hearing that the English 
were coming up the river, young Belkhap could resist the 
temptations of curiosity and the strivings of patriotism no 
longer, and like another young Norval from the Grampian 
Hills, left his flocks and herds and hastened his steps towards 
Newburgh. On his way clown, he called on Abel Belknap, 
Esq., father of Aaron Belknap, Esq., then residing about 
two miles west of Newburgh, where he first learned that 
Fort Montgomery had been taken the day before. At this 
time, it was notorious the English shipping were moving 
slowly up the river, and Belknap, stimulated by youthful 
ardor in the cause of his country, borrowed of Mr. Belknap 
a gun and bayonet with cartridge box and all necessary 
fixtures, for a short service. A rally was made by him for 
other troops, and he finally succeeded to muster a dozen or 
two of boys like himself, all anxious and determined to take 
part in the war, by attacking the English ships, as they passed 
the village. For all the injury they could inflict on these 
floating batteries, they might as well have fired pop-guns 
frem Snake Hill or Beacon Heights. By the time this pa- 
triot band of young heroes reached Newburgh, some trans- 
ports filled with soldiers, were opposite the present site of the 
village. As the wind was adverse, the vessels had to lack 
their course, which, at every turn on this shore, brought them 
near the land. This was a most favorable condition, and 



TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 153 

ensured success, if the thing was possible. The land force 
hastened down to the shore, now about Crawford's dock, 
and took their positions behind large trees which then grew 
upon the spot, and pretty close to the water. Here with 
throbbing hearts, and anxious to try the effect of their in- 
experienced eyes and arms, in a land assault with muskets, 
upon a fleet of transports, armed with heavy ordninance, — 
the farmer boys waited till some vessel should run in shore 
and tack her course, and be within point blank shot of their 
ill-appointed and unburnished weapons. Little calculation 
we suppose was made upon the bayonets' power. At the 
favorable moment, bang, bang, went the scattering shots 
towards the enemy. We may well suppose them taken by 
surprise at this unexpected attack from land in open day, 
and where no foe was suspected to lurk concealed ; but soon 
recovering, seeing whence the intended injury came, and 
the harmless nature of it, let slip one of their ever-ready and 
growling bulldogs in the proper direction. The shot proving 
ineffectual, the young guerilla party, no wise disconcerted, 
scampered from their hiding places, to take a new position, 
and continue the hazardous sport. They proceeded up the 
river, to about where the vessel would be when tacking on 
this shore, and about where the factory of Farnum & Jen- 
nings is now situate, near the Newburgh Mills, determined" 
if possible to inflict some injury and have the satisfaction of 
a parting blow before the enemy left the bay. Here again, 
among the thick growth of young trees and bushes, which 
covered the spot, but high up on the bank above the river, 
they waited till the vessel was in the wished-for situation, 
and then fired off another regular volley. On this occasion, 
there appeared on board something more than mere surprise, 
for confusion seemed mingled with it, but whether any in- 
jury was done or not, there were no means of determining. 
The vessel however returned the salute, fired another ball, 
which met the bank so far below as to be entirely harmless, 
and filling upon her new tack, left the shore ; and the youth- 
ful warriors returned home, in all the pride of having had 
an affair with the English, and played their part in the war. 
At Bladensburgh, on the banks of the Patapsco, is the 
monument of General Ross, the English General who at- 
tacked that place in the war of 1812. On the morning of 
the attack, two boys, the elder 16 years of age, took muskets, 
and marched off to the British advance, declaring their in- 
tention to shoot some of the British. They secreted them- 
selves in the brush along the road and laid there for some 



154 TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

time. Unfortunately Gen. Ross and staff came along that 
way, and the boys saw and distinguished him as their mark : 
both fired and both shots took effect upon his person. This 
circumstance caused the failure of the attack. 

We mention this Revolutionary incident more particularly 
to show the general character of the Belknap family, now 
very numerous in this town, and found in all callings, pro- 
fessions, and walks of life. They arc a strong, muscular 
race, enterprising and industrious ; and while self-willed, 
quick in temper and easily offended, of great and indomitable 
courage. Col. Wm. G. Belknap of the regular a.nny, who 
recently in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Pal ma, 
on the 8th and 9th of May last, so highly distinguished him- 
self, under Gen. Taylor, is a branch of this family tree, and 
a pretty fair specimen of its character and capabilities. This 
gentleman is well trained in such matters, having passed 
through the war of 1812, and partook of the dangers and 
hand to hand frays along the Niagara, so common at that day. 
Jacok Powell. — We claim the privilege of making a re- 
mark or two in relation to this individual. 

The father of this gentleman was Henry Powell of Hemps- 
tead, Long Island, born there 1741. The family were origi- 
nally from Wales, and immigrated to this country at an early 
period, and while the Dutch were in possession of the colony. 
Henry Powell, the ancestor, was an industrious and thriving 
man, and soon accumulated a handsome fortune. In religious 
belief he was a Quaker, and though disposed to peace and 
quiet, yet the true love of his country burned fierce and 
bright in his bosom, and when the war came, his sentiments, 
feelings and public conduct were all on the side of his coun- 
try. This subjected him to the rapacity, persecution, and ill- 
treatment of the English in possession of the Island, which 
ended in the spoliation of his estate, on the one hand, and be- 
ing incarcerated in the Jersey Prison Ship and old Sugar House 
on the other. This was next to death, and while 10,000 
perished by starvation, sickness, and ill-treatment in a hun- 
dred ways, it is remarkable that any survived. Thousands 
more would have perished if the hand of charity had not se- 
cretly supplied their wants. Men were found in the old su- 
gar house dead, with pieces of brickbats in their mouths, 
which they had been chewing, picked from the walls of the 
building. There was a secret object on the part of the En- 
glish in treating their prisoners with such starvation and 
cruelty, which was, to drive and force them to enlist in the 
English service, in addition to that of treating them as rebels 



7 

VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 155 

and outlaws. We have been told by one who was a prisoner 
in the old sugar house, that many times during the clay, the 
English officers would come to the small windows of the 
building, shake the gold pieces in their hands, and say : — 
" Come, my good fellows, if you wish to get out of this place 
take these and sign the roll of enlistment." Some to escape 
death, and the horrors of the infernal pit, did so, and in a few 
days deserted, and were found enrolled again in the ranks of 
their old companies. No circumstance of war could justify 
this mode of treating prisoners, and it remains an indelible 
stain upon the English character. 

This old Sugar House was broken through once by two 
Jersey Blues, by the names of Schureman and Lawrence. — 
They were taken prisoners near New Brunswick, and con- 
fined in the guard house, and their wants supplied by a lady 
— Mrs. Van Deusen. They were removed to New York 
and confined in the Sugar House. Here they were in great 
distress for the necessaries of life, and a tory by the name of 
Kissock took pity upon them and gave them money. With 
this they bought food and bribed the guard to give them the 
privilege of the yard, and one night they drugged some 
liquor with laudanum and gave it to the guard to drink. — 
They dug through the wall and escaped, and finding a fish- 
ing boat in the upper part of the city with one oar, paddled 
it across the river, proceeded to Morristown and joined the 
army. 

Schureman afterwards was in Congress and Senate of the 
United Slates, and Mayor of New Brunswick. 

Mr. Henry Powell was drowned in 1781, in an atlempt to 
rescue his son, who was with him on board of a ferry boat 
which upset in a squall, passing from Sheller Island to the 
city of New York. Thus father and son found a common 
grave. 

This early and unexpected death of the father imposed 
new dutjes and heavy responsibilities on Mr. Jacob Powell, 
the eldest son, then only 16 years of age. We are warrant- 
ed iri-saying that these duties and responsibilities, involving 
the care and protection of a sorrowing and widowed mother 
and orphan children, were affectionately and nobly dis- 
charged. In the expectation of bettering the condition of the 
family — a piaisevvorthy motive — they removed from Shelter 
Island to Marlborough, in the county of Ulster, but the field 
of operation proving too small and contracted for the expand- 
ing minds of Jacob and his brother Thomas, they again soon 
removed to the village of Newburgh, as a place of more prob- 



166 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

able growth and future commercial importance. Their judg- 
ment in this, as in other important transactions, proved to be 
correct and well founded. At this time a single dock and a 
store or two did all the business of the county at this place. 
The Powells, with all the energy of hopes of success — if it 
could be attained by care, intelligence and attention, entered 
into commercial business, and in a few years their characters 
were so well established, that their responsibility was known 
and appreciated from Albany to New York. As a true and 
natural consequence of such conduct, these gentlemen accu- 
mulated a large fortune, a part of which is now devoted to 
the extensive business operations of the village, dissemina- 
ting its blessings and usefulness broadcast, not only over the 
village, but over the county at large. 

Jacob Powell, after being afflicted a few years by a cance- 
rous growth on his face, died in the 58th year of his age, un- 
married. In relation to this individual, we have the unbroken 
voice of all who knew him, to justify us in saying, that he 
was not. only sagacious and truly philosophic in the opera- 
tions of his mind, but upright in his commercial transactions, 
and his word was as good as his bond. 

These gentlemen, with their ample means and public spir- 
it, largely contributed to build up and adorn the village, and 
gave employment to hundreds of laborers and mechanics. 

Having mentioned one member of this family, we cannot 
consent to omit a notice of the younger brother, Mr. Thomas 
Powell, who will pardon the freedom we assume in placing 
his name in our paper. Indeed, so broad and visible is the 
form of this gentleman, and the things which belong to him, 
that we cannot stir anywhere abroad in this locality, without 
being reminded of his presence, or running against him, di- 
rectly or indirectly. Truly, and without offence, we may 
say that, if Jacob had the head to plan and conceive an ope- 
ration, Thomas was the very one to execute it in all its details. 

Though not large in person, yet possessing a well-knit 
frame and good health, few men were more rugged and en- 
during of bodily labor and exercise than he. We question, 
unless Mr. Powell was sick, if the sun in a quarter of a cen- 
tury saw him in bed. Early rising, united with daily exer- 
cise, doubtless contribute to health and longevity, and is 
worth a shop full of medicine. The business operations of 
this gentleman seem to grow in magnitude and interest, and 
increase with his years ; which, as Newburgh is conditioned, 
is a happy circumstance to the present welfare and future 
prosperity of the village. At this day, Mr. Thomas Powell 



TILLAGE OF NEWBURCH. 167 

must be considered the great patron of the place — being en- 
gaged, and using freely his unbounded wealth, in all the 
operations demanding the employment and expenditure of 
vast pecuniary means. Of the truth of this remark, expensive 
buildings, such as the United States Hotel, several very ex- 
pensive Docks, the Ferry across the River, four Steamers, 
with large subscriptions to stock in the Branch Rail Road, 
and Cotton Factory, the Powell Bank — themselves amount- 
ing to many hundred thousand dollars, are satisfactory evi- 
dence, and will, as they ought, earn for Mr. Powell, the good 
will and gratitude of the community. As far as we can, we 
cast in our humble tribute to produce the desired result. 

We dare not to be more particular in speaking of this gentle- 
man's personal affairs or private deportment — in the charac- 
ter of husband, father, friend — but we may be permitted with- 
out offence to state that he is personally unostentatious, liberal 
where it is a virtue to be so, and that his well-stored mansion 
is free and open as an hotel to his friends and neighbors^ 
while never closed against the wants of the needy, The 
time to say more is not yet, and may the period be slow in 
its coming. The citizens at large, will admit, the village and 
her important and still extending interests largely benefited 
by the lives and residence of Jacob and Thomas Powell. 

Robert Ludlow. — We mention this gentleman to take 
occasion to introduce some of his descendants. He came from 
Warwick to Newburgh in 1796, and there spent the residue 
of his life. His daughter Mary is the wife of Thomas Pow- 
ell, Esq., and well known in this vicinity as a lady dispensing 
her kind offices and unostentatious hospitality among our 
citizens for the quarter of a century past. 

Augustus C. Ludlow, his youngest son was born in 1792, 
appointed a midshipman in 1804, served under his elder 
brother Charles — then a captain in the naval service, Com- 
modore Barron, and Captain Rogers for several years, with 
great acceptance and practical skill. In June, 1813, as 
Lieutenant under Captain Lawrence, on board the ill-fated 
Chesapeake, he fought the celebrated battle with the Shan- 
non, English frigate. This, beyond question, was one of the 
severest, bloodiest, and most destructive battles that took 
place on the ocean, both as regarded men and officers, the 
deck grade of whom were all killed or wounded. Lawrence 
was killed in the early part of the action, and the fate of the 
ship and crew, with the unsullied honor of the navy and 
country devolved a frightful and overwhelming responsibility 
on young Ludlow, in discharge of which he forfeited his life. 



158 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

and placed it an offering upon her altar. He received a sa- 
bre cut on the head, which paralyzed further resistance, and 
by boarding - the enemy carried the vessel. After surrender, 
the ship, with Ludlow, and the dead body of Lawrence were 
taken into Halifax, and the gallant commander buried with 
military honors. In the solemn train that followed the 
corpse of the slain hero, but one solitary distinguished Amer- 
ican mourner was seen — the rest reposed in the bosom of the 
Atlantic. Young Ludlow, with head bound up, tearless 
eye, and feelings too deep for utterance, was that solitary 
mourner. Returned from the grave of his commander, he 
fell from his chair, a lifeless corpse, overcome by his own 
wounds and the excitement of the transaction. There he too 
was buried in a soldier's grave, but both were subsequently 
brought home to the land they fought for. The conduct of 
this heroic youth was worthy his honored line and ancient 
lineage. They lifted their voices loud in Parliament, and 
their swords high in battle for English liberty : he gave his 
life for a cause of kindred character. Peace to the memory 
of this gallant, boy ! The poetry of future ages shall hymn, 
and eloquence celebrate, his death and heroic deeds. 

Daniel Niven, Esq. — This gentleman, though not a resi- 
dent of the village, was yet so near to it as to entitle him to a 
uhort notice. He emigrated from Ila, an island on the west 
coast of Scotland, and came to the city of New York about 
the year 1770. Patriotic in all his associations and a true 
lover of human freedom, early in the war, with other patriots, 
he volunteered his services to his adopted country, and was 
actively engaged in various duties in and about the city of 
New York and in NeAv Jersey. 

Becoming acquainted with Washington, who soon saw the 
stern and determined character of the young and active 
Scotchman, he received a commission as Lieutenant of En- 
gineers in the regular army, and was much employed at 
West Point and other places along the river. We are in- 
formed he was instrumental with others, in drawing the plan 
of Fort Putnam at the time of its erection ; superintended the 
floating of the great chain across the river — more particular- 
ly mentioned hereafter — and was at the Point at the time 
of Arnold's treasonable attempt to surrender that post. A 
more particular description of his revolutionary services is 
hostile to our plan, and we leave them with this remark : — 
that on every occasion he rigidly executed his duty, and 
was equal to the trust confided in him. 

After the war he came to Newburgh, and purchased the 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 159 

farm with milling privileges and erections from Mr. Belknap, 
— about two miles west of the village — where he lived and 
died. 

This gentleman was a side Judge of the Common Pleas, 
and held the commission of Justice of the Peace, for many 
years. It was said of him that when a suitor came and asked 
process, he made it a part of official duty to learn the exact 
state of the case, and if there were merits in the application, 
his business was to effect a settlement of the matter without 
suit. If the parties, however, in despite of his kind offices, 
would still appeal to the law, he meted them the most rigid 
justice. This friendly and fatherly course of proceeding 
gained him the good will and confidence of his neighbors, 
and no one was more frequently chosen a referee or arbitra- 
tor to settle disputes than he. When he sat in his official ca- 
pacity, order and decornm were exacted, and counsel expect- 
ed to demean themselves respectfully towards the court, under 
the pains of commitment. Personal friendship never relaxed 
the rigor of the rule. Observant himself of order and re- 
spect he enforced them upon others. It was difficult to change 
his opinions when once fairly formed, and nothing but the 
clearest evidence or most forcible reasoning could do it ; but 
when satisfied of error would yield to the force of truth. — 
Little laxity could grow up or thrive in personal or public 
affairs, where he had influence or power to check it. The 
rule with him, in jurisprudence and morals was the same, 
an observance of the law, and the whole law. 

An illustration of this feature in his chaiacter may be gath- 
ered from an anecdote or two, which we recollect hearing 
when a boy. Morgan Lewis, afterwards Governor of the 
State, had been holding a circuit court at Goshen, which 
closed its session on Saturday night — and as he was under the 
necessity of returning home, or hastening to another circuit — 
had to travel on the Sabbath, which was contrary to the 
Htatute laws of the state. Phineas Bowman, Esq., who then 
resided at Newburgh, was with the Judge — a man as full of 
fun, frolic and the d — 1 as ever dwelt in the ccunty — under 
some pretence, while nearing the house of the Justice, left 
him and rode on before. He hastened to find Mr. Niven, 
and informed him that the Judge was coming in full breach 
of the Sabbath, and that he must stop and fine him. Bow- 
man in the meantime, complained of himself, made his ex- 
cuse therefor, and paid his fine. By this time the Judge 
was near the house — and the Justice went out, met him in 
the road, arrested him in his progress, informed him of hi* 



160 VILLAOK OF NEWBURGH. 

offence, and that he must pay the fine or be detained. The 
Judge stated his case to be one of necessity, justified his con- 
duct aud refused to pay. This was no sufficient excuse in 
the opinion of the Justice : escape was impossible without dis- 
grace, and the Judge— to save himself from capture and de- 
tention till the next day — paid his fine and was permitted to 
proceed. This, however, was not the end of it j for the dig- 
nity of the Judge was violated— the State insulted in his 
person — and he proceeded homeward, breathing vengeance, 
in place of submitting to authority like a good citizen. If 
we are rightly informed, the Judge instituted a suit, to re- 
cover the penalty, on the ground that it was illegally exact- 
ed ; but he failed in his attempt, and the Justice again tri- 
umphed over the Judge. 

At a subsequent period, he also fined Gen James Clinton, 
for alike violation of the Sabbath — who, equally dissatisfied 
with the Judge that the penalty was illegally exacted, brought 
a certiorari to the common pleas to reverse the Justice's pro- 
ceedings, and teach him a lesson, that laws of a mere moral 
character, were not to be enforced against the respectable 
and honorable in society. In this instance, the humble Jus- 
tice triumphed over the aged warrior as easily as over the 
subtle jurist in the former case, and the General was taught 
the lesson that all men in this community were alike, in 
the all-seeing eye of the Law. 

This was not a mere show of authority on the part of Mr. 
Niven, or played off by him on the parties for popular effect, 
and no one who knew the man — his temper and character — 
would for a moment suspect it. On his part, it was a con- 
scientious fulfilment of the law he had sworn to execute: he 
was known to fine his own son, with other boys, for a like 
violation of the Sabbath. 

The times have changed somewhat in these matters, and 
men have changed with them ; but whether for the better, 
the patriot, jurist, and moralist must determine for them- 
selves. Mr. Niven had been educated in, and to the obser- 
servance of, a strict moral creed, and as an officer, endeavored 
to carry out his principles into wholesome and rigorous exer- 
cise, fully persuaded that it was for the public good. We 
are of opinion that the conduct and example of such men are 
most benign, wholesome and influential upon the public 
mind, and contribute to stay the downward course of vice 
and immorality, as obstructions in a stream impede and con- 
trol its waters. 

We conclude this imperfect note by adding thereto the 



TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 161 

Inscription found on his lomb stone, written by Doct. John 
M. Mason, who was well acquainted with the subject of re- 
mark, which will give the reader a more perfect idea of this 
individual than anything- we could write : 

Under this stone reposes in hope the flesh of Daniel Niven, E&<$. 
Strong sense, unaided by early cultivation, but united with tried integrity, 
recommended him to respect and confidence — devoted with unostentatious 
zeal to the best interests of society, he approved himself as a private Chris- 
tian unassuming and exemplary — as a soldier in the army, alert and gallant — 
as a civil magistrates terror to evil doers, enforcing wholesome laws with- 
out fear, favor or affection —as an officer in the church of God, disinterested, 
vigilant, public-spirited, fathful : and having passed through an active ami 
varied life, honored by the esteem of good and fears of bad men, he finished 
his course in the consolations of that Gospel which he had loved, November 
20, 1809 ; aged 67 years. 

Isaac Belknap, the father of Gen. Isaac Belknap, dec ? d., 
was born at Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1733, and descended 
from one of three brothers who came from Lancashire. 
England, about the year 1625, and settled in Boston. Of 
the time of his removal to Newhurgh, we are not informed. 
For some years before the revolution, he sailed a vessel from 
that place to Nantucket and other Eastern ports, touching at 
New York, etc. During the war, he was engaged in the 
service of the United States, and commanded a company of 
Rangers, whose duty it was to keep a watchful eye upon the 
conduct of affairs in the vicinity of the American posts and 
places more remote. He was detatched to escort a large 
quantity of specie from New Haven to Philadelphia, where 
H had been landed by some French vessels, for the use of 
the country. After the war, he again commenced his sloop- 
ing business between Newburgh and New York, and contin- 
ued in it as long as he was able to follow the arduous occu- 
pation. He died April 29, 1815, aged 82 years. The fol- 
lowing is extracted from his tomb-stone: " He was a firm 
" friend to his country in her darkest times, a zealous sup- 
u porter of American Liberty, a kind and affectionate hus- 
" band, a tender and indulgent father. For 20 years before 
11 his death he became a bright example of real piety, and! 
" died in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ." 

A flower, a vapor, a span 
Serve to illustrate the life of man. 
They who live the longest survive to eee 
The certainty of death, of life the vanity. 

Jacob and Leonard Carpenter. The father of these 
gentlemen was Benjamin Carpenter, a native of England, 
born in 1730, came to the country and located on Long If - 

K 



162 TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

land. After remaining there for several years, he removed 
to Latintown, in Ulster county, where he purchased a farm 
and cultivated it. As early as 1764, we find his name on 
the records of the town of Newburgh as Overseer of High- 
ways. About this time he married Miss Jane Leonard, the 

daughter of the Rev. Leonard, a Presbyterian minister, 

of the town of Goshen. He sold his farm, and by the depre- 
ciation of Continental money, with many otheis of his weal- 
thy fellow-citizens, was reduced from competency to com- 
parative poverty. Mr. Carpenter held several respectable 
town offices, and discharged the duties of a Magistrate for 
many years. He had six children, of whom Leonard 
and Jacob Carpenter were two. These gentlemen when 
young were ship-builders, and contributed largely to forward 
and promote that interest in the village, which, at the time, 
was very much needed, as Newburgh at that early period, gave 
evidence of being a place not only of internal trade, but ex- 
ternal commerce. Indeed, after the war, an East India trade 
was commenced in the village, in which the Eelknaps, Car- 
penters, Gardners and others were participants. 

Leonard Carpenter, about 1800, purchased from Cadwal- 
lader R. Colden the patent right to the Newburgh Ferry. — 
The Patent was granted by George II. to Alexander Colden 
in 1743, and is exclusive on the river throughout the whole 
extent of the water fi out of the German Patent, extending 
from the mouth of Chambers? Creek to a short distance a- 
bove the old Poor House. Previous to this, a large part of 
the Ferrying was done from Fishkill lower landing to New 
Windsor. A Ferry was kept, from Fishkill upper landing to 
Newburgh, and called the Continental Ferry. The Ferry to 
New Windsor was continued until 1812. 

After the purchase of the Ferry, it engaged the whole of 
the time and attention of the Messrs. Carpenter, who con- 
ducted it to the satisfaction of the public. 

After the death of these gentlemen the ferry charter be- 
came vested in Isaac R. Carpenter, Esq., sen of Leonard 
Carpenter, and in John Peter Dewint, Esq., of Dutchess 
County. Mr. Dewint, in 1835, bought out Mr. Carpenter, 
and owned the whole, and in the same year sold to Thomas 
Powell, Esq., the present owner. This ferry, I y the contract 
between I. R. Carpenter and Dewint, must be kept at the 
points at present occupied by it, at the wharf at the foot of 
Second street, in Newburgh, and the Long Wharf at Fish- 
kill Landing. 

Benjamin Carpenter & Co., in 1830, owned the first 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 163 

steamer used for freight and passengers — called the William 
Young. About this time D. Crawford, & Co. purchased the 
steamer Baltimore for the same purpose; since which, the 
Washington, Providence, James Madison, and Highlander 
have been successively employed in the business. 

Derick, Amerman. — The father of this gentleman was 
Albert Amerman, a native of Holland, who emigrated to 
Long Tsland, at an early period in its history and settlement. 
From thence he removed to the city of New York and mar- 
ried. Derick, his son, was born there. 

From thence young Derick came to Newburgh, when 15 
years of age. During the Revolution, he was Quarter-mas- 
ter, and discharged the duties of the appointment at New- 
burgh, while the army was encamped at Snake Hill. After 
the war he entered into business with Mr. Abel Belknap, 
who conducted a milling establishment on Chambers' Creek, 
afterwards known as the Niven Mill. This he abandoned in 
a few years, and commenced the slooping business at New- 
burgh, trading weekly between that village and the city of 
New York. His vessel was the Siren, and she, as well as 
the Captain, were great favorites with the country people. — 
He had the reputation of a very safe and skilful navigator of 
the river. This occupation he followed for forty years, and 
though the life of a sailor at that time was not directly pro- 
motive of good morals — much less of religion and piety — we 
may truly say, Capt. Amerman remained through a long life 
of temptation uninjured by the seductive nature of his occu- 
pation — a true and devoted follower of his Heavenly Cap- 
tain. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church 
in Newburgh, till about 1796, when he united with the As- 
sociate Reformed Church at Little Britain. When tlje Asso- 
ciate Reformed Church was erected in Newburgh, and a con- 
gregation formed, he united with it, being under the pastoral 
care of the Rev. Mr. Scrimgeor ; in the communion and 
membership of which he died. His descendant?;, both male 
and female, are residents of the village and vicinity. He 
died March 4, 1826, in the 67th year of his age. A public 
notice of his death says : — 

" His loss is deeply felt and deplored — as a citizen he was respectable and 
useful — as a member of our charitable societies, active and punctual — as an 
officer of the church, efficient and conciliating. He united in his character 
firmness in his conduct with suavity of manner. Resembling the disciple 
whom Jesus loved, his disposition, naturally amiable, was lightened by 
grace to an attractive sweetness, which drew to him the hearts of all who 
knew him. He died in full faith of salvation by a Redeemer, and spent son>B 



164 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

tjf his last moments in singing the first Psalm — " Blessed are the peace- 
makers, for they shall be called the children of God." 

Hezekiah Belknap. — This gentleman was the son of Mr. 
David Belknap, at Coldenham, (one of the old families of 
he town) and after the usual preparatory education, en- 
ered Princeton College, New Jersey, and graduated in 1805, 
with a high standing in his class. In 1806, he was appoint- 
ed a tutor in that institution, and taught the sophomore class. 
The writer was one of his pupils. This appointment by the 
faculty of that reputable seminary of learning was high evi- 
dence of their estimate of his scholarship. This station was 
ill-suited to the active and enquiring mind of young Bel- 
knap, and he resigned the next year, when he returned to 
Newburgh, and commenced the study of the Law. For this 
department, his mind was admirably well calculated, being 
clear and comprehensive, with all the order and arrangement 
befitting philosophy and mathematics — clear, cogent, and 
discriminating. His talents, though scarcely tested at the 
time of his death, foreshadowed the promise of great ability 
and future success in his profession. At this stage of a young 
and promising career he was, unexpectedly to all around 
him, cut down and consigned to an early grave, blighting 
the hopes of his relations, and disappointing the cherished 
prospects of his friends. 

His moral worth, private deportment and public character 
are very truly set forth in an obituary notice of him at tha 
time. He died, May 23d, 1814, of Typhus fever. 

" We are called upon to perform the last tribute to one of the most vain- 
able and respectable young men in our village, who from his youth upward* 
has sustained a character worthy of emulation. We look on the departurs 
of ao-e and. infirmity as the destiny of mortality — but here we have to lament 
the loss of one just ripening into maturity, to whom genius had lent her 
vivifying aid, and learning all her decoratious and embellishments. 

In his political character he possesses! all that was worthy of respect and 
support. He was a republican in principle and practice. He had just been 
honored by his native county with a seat in the (then) next legislature of 
the state, and bid fair to be one of the most useful members But what did 
nil these avail? The frailty of our nature passed and plucked the fairest 
flower." 

Daniel Niven, jun. — This gentleman is still living — on© 
ef our oldest citizens — and of him we dare say but little. 
He was born in Ila, on the west coast of Scotland, and emi- 
grated to New York in April, 1791, when about 24 years of 
age, having previously learnt the tailor's trade. He came 
directly to Newburgh, and commenced business in the vil- 
lage of New Windsor, but in the process of acclimation wa* 



TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 166 

driven away by ague and fever, which was sure to attack 
every foreigner the first year of his residence. Before remo- 
ving he was offered a lot of land in the village by Messrs. 
Ellison & Schultze if he would stay : — he refused the donation 
saying he would not if they gave him the whole village. — 
Mr. Niven looked upon his condition as a case of life and 
death, and was determined, if possible, to Are from the local 
pestilence which infested the place. He left, returned to 
Newburgh, leased a lot near Tyler's corner in Water street, 
and prepared to erect a building to conduct his business. To 
engage a carpenter he went down to New Cornwall, and em- 
ployed a man by the name of Smith. Smith procured a boat, 
put his wife, child and tools aboard, and started to come to 
Newburgh, but on his way was upset in a squall, and all 
drowned except the child, which was saved by the buoyancy 
of its clothing. This individual is still living. 

When Mr. Niven heard of this melancholy disaster, and 
connected as it was with his personal affairs, with father 
/Eneas he concluded the fates were against him, and actual- 
ly abandoned the enterprise on that account. What small 
and unconnected agencies determine the mind even in very 
important matters ! 

Thus driven out by the fates, Mr. Niven removed to the 
city of New York, where he remained till 1799 — then return- 
ed to Newburgh, where he continued till 1810, when the at- 
tractions of a mercantile pursuit induced him to return to the 
city, and enter into business with an acquaintance. This 
partnership and residence in the city were about of as long 
duration and fully as afflictive in their dispensations as his 
residence at New Windsor ; for though they did not actually 
threaten to take his life, they took from him every thing else. 

In 1812, Mr. Niven, ever active and determined to do 
Bometing for a living, left the city, located in Mamakating 
Hollow in Sullivan county, and with brightening prospects 
of success, entered into agricultural pursuits connected with 
Inn-kaeping. In this he experienced about an equal result, 
and came out with whole bones, and in 1816 we find him 
in the growing village and pure atmosphere of Monticello. 
upon the very summit of the Alleghanies. There is some- 
times as much danger in being too high as too low, and Mr. 
Niven retired to the foot of the mountain, and became a 
resident of the large and more ancient village of Blcoming- 
burgh. When the Delaware and Hudson canal was in pro- 
gress of being built, the general impression was that it would 
add to the business operations of the inhabitants all along th* 



166 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

line through the valley, and Mr. Niven, entertaining the 
name opinion, determined that if it rained porridge upon the 
citizens, at least he would have his dish right side up, re- 
moved to Mamakating Hollow and sat up an inn. The work 
was completed in a few years, spent its force of construction 
along the path of its route, and the agents, workmen and 
visitors retired from Mamakating — leaving matters and things 
hi statu quo. Mr. Niven, not to be singular, " when all 
the world's a stage," returned to his first love in 1837. He is 
now in a green old age, about 78, in the full possession of 
his mental and bodily faculties, — young and buoyant in 
manner and feeling as a man of fifty. Mr. Niven built the 
second brick house in the Village of Newburgh, and was the 
first to put a slate roof on. 

Mr. Niven was educated in the Associate Reformed Church 
of Scotland, and early united himself with that body of Chris- 
tians here. Not many years after he came to Newburgh, 
there being no worship in the village in a church to which 
he belonged, went up one Sabbath morning to the First 
Presbyterian Church in the village, with a view to worship 
there for the day. When he arrived the services were 
being commenced by the Rev. Mr. Ford of New Jersey, and 
as he looked in at the door, Mr. John McAuley got his eye on 
him, rose up, and beckoned him to come in. Mr. Niven 
went in and took a seat with Mr. McAuley. Here, he says, 
they sat like two noblemen, in the only pew in the church. 
The psalm was being read, and though there were several 
books in the seat, neither of them could find it. Mr. Mc- 
Auley, knowing that the chorister was not there, said to Mr. 
Niven, " Daniel, you must set the tune." He replied, — 
"' How can I do it : I can't find the psalm." "Go up, man, 
and take the book from the parson." Mr. Niven agreed, 
went up to the pulpit, received the book and sang the psalm. 
While singing, a Scotch friend of his, who came to this coun- 
try in 1791, also came to the door and looked in, saw what 
was going on and left. This individual, with his then opin- 
ions of a true and false church, would as leave have worship- 
ped in a heathen temple as in a Presbyterian meeting house. 

When Mr. Niven met the gentleman alluded to, he was 
chided by him for what he had done, and threatened if he 
did not do better for the future, and quit singing such psalms 
in such places, he would complain to the proper authority, 
and have him spiritually punished. Whether Mr. Niven 
was improved by the fatherly advice of his friend we do not 
know, but we are of opinion, from his liberal views on that sub- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 167 

ject, that in a crisis like the one referred to, he would lift 
his voice to-day, in such a place, and send his heart with it. 

Robert Gardiner was born in the city of Edinburgh, 
shire of Mid Lothian, Scotland, May 31, 1769 ; emigrated to 
this country, and settled temporarily in Dutchess County, 
about 1786, being then 17 years of age. He remained there 
but a short time, when he became an inhabitant of Orange. 
His first employment was as clerk to Mr. Hugh Walsh, and 
afterwards with John Anderson and John McAuley, who 
were among the first who opened stores in Newburgh. In 
1791, he married the daughter of Benjamin Smith — then 
owner of a great part of the land on which Newburgh is now 
situated. He soon after relinquished the mercantile business 
for inn- keeping, or as it was then termed, the keeping of a 
Coffee House, about 1795. Previous to the establishment of 
Gardiner's Coffee House, malt liquor had never been kept 
here as an article of sale. He was the first to introduce it. 
It was sold by retail, and drank out of pewter mugs, holding a 
pint each, bright as silver, having an engraved circular 
wreath opposite the handle, inclosing the letters R. G. 

In 1802, he became a citizen, and from this time to 1812 
was variously engaged — as Captain of a sloop, Schoolmaster, 
Painter, and Merchant. In 1812, he was ordered with the 
company of Newburgh Infantry, of which he was first lieu- 
tenant, to Staten Island, where he continued to do duty for 
a considerable period of time. His first wife died in 1803, 
and he married his present widow in 180-. He was the fa- 
ther of 16 children, ten of whom are now living. He died 
March 3d, 1831, at a small farm which he had, named Mount 
Airy — and which still bears the name — situate about a mile 
west of Newburgh. 

During his absence at Staten Island, his business — that of 
an extensive Grocery, Confectionary and Toy store — was 
conducted by his eldest son James (then pursuing his medi- 
cal studies,) his wife, and his daughter, the late Mrs. Coit. 
It was at this time that shin-plasters reigned triumphant. — 
There was no silver, and they were used for the purposes of 
change. Among the many individuals and corporations by 
whom they were issued none had a greater circulation than 
Robert Gardiner's small bills. Some idea may be formed of 
the extent of the circulation of small bills at that time, when 
the fact is stated, that the average weekly amount taken in 
exchange for Bank Bills and his own, together with what he 
received in the course of business, amounted to no less than 
$2,000. 



168 TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

Jason Rogers. — This gentleman was one of the early 
settlers of the village, and of English Puritan descent, of 
honorable memory. He was enterprising, a man of char- 
acter and property. He came from New London to New- 
burgh in the year 1785 or '86, and perceiving- at once the 
natural advantages which the place and vicinity possessed 
for purposes of ship building, immediately entered exten- 
sively into the business, prosecuted it with vigor, and at the 
.same time conducted the mercantile business, which gave an 
impetus to the progress and prosperity of the village, which 
it experienced for a long time afterward. He drew the plans 
and superintended the building of his vessels, which obtained 
for them a wide spread reputation for being very fast sailers. 

He, like many of the fathers of our village, took part in 
our revolutionary struggle, and though but a youth, stood in 
defence of New London, his native city, when it was attacked 
and burned by the British. 

He was a patriotic, warm hearted lover of his country — 
hospitable, open handed in his public and private benevo- 
lence — devoted and disinterested in his friendships. Early 
in life he attached to himself a circle of acquaintances, who 
continued, notwithstanding reverses and misfortunes, his true, 
warm-hearted friends unld death. He lived to seethe close 
of his 74th year, and during his residence here, ever felt a 
deep interest in the welfare and prosperity of the village. He 
died May 9th, 1836. 

Jason Rogers, of Louisville, in the state of Kentucky, now 
at Monterey in Mexico, Lieutenant colonel of the First Regi- 
ment of Kentucky Volunteers, is a son of this gentleman. — 
Young Rogers, when a youth, entered the Military Acade- 
my at West Point, and after spending the usual time, grad- 
uated with a high standing in his class. After graduation, 
he remained some years attached to the army, stationed at 
different points in the western states, when he married the 
niece of Col. Preston of South Carolina. This lady was 
highly accomplished, beautiful in person, and the owner of 
a large estate in Kentucky. Within a few years death has 
deprived him of the loved partner of his youth and the cher- 
ished consolation of his manhood and age. On retiring 
from the army — the country then in a state of profound 
peace — he stipulated to rejoin it whenever in his judgment, 
the country demanded his services. The crisis came when 
a call was made for volunteer forces by the government for 
the invasion of Mexico, and Mr. Rogers raised a regiment of 
Kentuckians, and forthwith marched to the scene of action. 



VILLAGE OF NKWBURGH. 169 

He arrived in time to take part in storming the death dealing 
heights of Monterey. Here, for the first time, he snuffed the 
carnage of the battlefield and encountered all the dangers and 
horrors of real war. This was a rough and striking lesson for 
the first day's attendance in the school where each was bound 
to do all the harm he could. 

We have some slight acquaintance with this gentleman, 
from which however, and from the fact that he came from 
a father, who served his country faithfully during the war of 
the Revolution, we have no fears the place of his nativity 
will be disgraced in the personal bearing of Mr. Rogers. — 
Having had little intercourse with Newburgh since a boy, 
he has been, till recently, almost lost to the recollection of 
her citizens as one of her former children. 

Hugh Speir. — This gentleman was a native of Glasgow, 
Scotland. He came to this place in the year 1788, and soon 
took an active part in all the improvements and public affairs 
of the village. He was by trade a cabinet maker, and the 
first one in the place. A man of strong mind and great origi- 
nality of character, he possessed more ready wit and repartee 
than most men. A member and elder of the Associate Re- 
formed Church, his delight was to do good, be kind and be- 
nevolent to all. He died in 1826, aged 61 years. 

We give an example of his ready wit, (call it by any 
other name you please.) He had been cheated in the pur- 
chase of some potatoes, procured from a wagon in the street. 
A few days after this another vender of vegetables asked him 
if he did not wish to purchase a few bushels of potatoes, and 
recommended them as very fine. Mr. Speir replied that he 
had been cheated in some he had purchased, and declined. 
The man asked him in what they were deficient. Mr. Speir 
replied, the potatoes were of good size and appeared to be of 
fine quality, but when boiled they cracked the skin, and 
some of them fell to pieces in the pot. The man then stated 
that his were not of that kind, and if he took them he would 
warrant they should not act in that way, and Mr. Speir 
have no reason to complain of them for such a cause. 

It is unnecessary to tell the reader the purchase was de- 
clined. 

Doct. Moses Higby. — We observe that this individual 
was instrumental, in his professional capacity, in produ- 
cing the silver ball which contained the dispatches of the 
British spy Taylor. The doctor was among the earliest of 
his profession in this section of the county, and contemporary 
with Dr. Whalen of Montgomery. At that early day the 



170 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

population was thinly dispersed over a large district, and the 
profession really laborious, far more so than now, with good 
roads and dense population. 

The doctor had but a common education, though consider- 
ed good for the times, and what he lacked in this, strong 
natural talents, observation and extensive practice made up. 
That he had taken part in the war by being connected with 
the discovery of the silver ball, his acquaintance personally 
with the officers of the American army, who lay encamped 
1782-3 around his dwelling, and being the principal phy- 
sician in the settlement, imparted at least a fictitious, if 
not a real consequence to his character and personal bear- 
ing. Of all these interesting incidents and connections the 
doctor was fond and inclined to recur on proper occasions. — 
His practice was among the old and respectable families in 
this town and New Windsor, and this, of itself, was a flatter- 
ing circumstance. The consequence of all this was, that when 
his professional services were wanted, thotigh you sent for 
him in a case instantly pending between life and death, there 
was no certainty when he would come. If the messenger 
was so fortunate as to find him, he was sent back with the 
glad tidings that he would, perhaps, be there before him. — 
But this was no sure guarantee, for he had some further in- 
cidents to relate, some old story to tell about the war, its 
officers or times, some disquisition of practice or about matters 
and things in general ; and withal, strong in the belief of his 
medical skill, short only of infallibility, that it was one hun- 
dred to one the learned doctor would not be at the bed- 
side of his patient till next day, if then. This habit of ne- 
glect was so well known and understood by his employers, 
that many who could spare the convenience, took advan- 
tage of it, and appropriated his person, as well as services, to 
themselves. With such, it was a common thing to have a 
room in the house prepared and in order for his reception and 
residence, into which he entered on arrival, whether at mid- 
day, or midnight, or cock-crowing, as his own chamber. — 
His arrival was looked upon by all concerned — the doctor in- 
cluded — as a kind of god-send, and they kept and enter- 
tained him for days, as if some heavenly messenger — unless, 
in the mean time, he was sent for to go elsewhere. Here his 
saddle-bags, of potent and wonderful efficacy, were safely 
deposited, unstrapped and emptied ; the table upleafed and 
upon it spread the small and larger packages, ready and con- 
venient in case of emergency. Here the doctor sat, conversed, 
made up his prescriptions, issued his decrees and reigned su- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBUUGH. 171 

preme. We say supreme, for being self-willed and head- 
strong - naturally, these traits of character were increased by 
the dictatorial nature of his profession, which made it pre- 
sumption in any one to enquire what he was about to do, 
though the patient was soon to enter tbe next world. To this, 
by way of confirmation, was added the habit of authority, im- 
bibed from the practical command of the officers with whom 
he had been familiar during the war; so that the doctor 
as a practical physician or a man in common life was 
uncourteous, presumptuous in knowledge, and dictatorial in 
manner. YVe do not condemn ; these things were rather the 
fault of the times in which he lived, the circumstances by 
which he was surrounded, and from an old revolutionary, 
ingrained Whig, who had done some service to the country 
in the hour of her extreme necessities, and withal, taken 
good care of the bodily welfare of our fathers and mothers, 
we can bear far more than these small matters of personal 
conduct — nay, we revere the man for his stern integrity, 
upright and open manner. He died May 3, 1823, upwards 
of 80 years of age, having practised medicine over 60 years. 

Having, as we suppose, by this short note given the reader 
a clear notion of this old patriot, we crave permission to men- 
tion an anecdote. The doctor had a row of fine bearing 
cherry trees, planted along the road in front of his house, 
where the people travelling to and from Newburgh, were 
very apt to stop and pluck the fruit. At that early day 
property of this kind was looked upon by country people as 
held more in common and for public use than at this, and 
did not feel as if they were committing a trespass in gather- 
ing a handful of cherries from a tree by the road side. The 
writer has done this selfsame thing, and been ordered off by 
the doctor in no mild or fatherly accents. 

One day along came a countryman in his wagon, and 
nearing the doctor's trees, saw that the fruit was ripe. There 
the cherries hung, gushing, laughing ripe, right full in his 
face, before his eyes. The vision was too tempting, his horses 
almost refused to pass, the driver must pluck and eat, — and 
sure enough, he drove his team beneath the branches of la- 
dened fruit. He did not mean to rob the tree, but simply to 
pluck and taste the fruit. At such a time the doctor's thoughts 
were as intent on his cherry trees as on his patients, he saw 
the wagon stop and the felonious conduct of the driver. — 
The doctor, a little vexed, was not slow in making his ap- 
pearance, and down the path he came with rapid stride, and 
as he came addressed the offender : — 



172 TILLAGE OF MEWBURGH. 

" Sir, what are you doing here ? Do you not know that 
these are my cherries V 9 

The man answered that " he did not know there was any 
harm in getting a handful of cherries." 

The doctor replied that " there was, that he must be off,foi 
he allowed no one to take his cherries." 

" Well, I don't know," said he, "but I have as much 
right to them as you." 

"Why so?" inquired the doctor, incensed at a claim so 
unexpectedly set up. 

"I have always understood," said he, "that nobody 
owns what is found on the highway." 

" Ah !" said the doctor, " perhaps there is something ii 
that," — and while he seemed to acquiesce in the truth o' 
the new proposition, stepped up into the wagon himself 
though quick subtlety was deep in his bosom, intending t< 
give the man a practical application of his own doctrine. 

The doctor, looking round and into the tree, observed thai 
there were some fine ones, pointing to them, and suggested 
that he had better put his foot in a limb of the tree, get uj 
and reach them. The friendly nature of the remark was 
sufficient, and up jumped the countrymen into the tree. 

No sooner was he fairly up and engaged with the cherries, 
than the doctor took up the lines, drove the wagon from 
under the tree, and down the road towards Newburgh. Seeing 
this, down came the man hand over hand and after the doc- 
tor, hallooing at the top of his voice, as he ran : — 

" Stop, sir ! where are you going? That, is my team," 
and after a short but quick run, came up with it. The doc- 
tor leisurely stopped, enquired what he wanted and what 
he was making so much noise about. 

The man answered that that was his team, and he want- 
ed it. 

The reply was : — " This is my team ; I found it on the 
highway, and I concluded to drive down to Newburgh, 
while you were gathering your cherries." 

It is needless to say the man stood self-convicted, and we 
never heard that he stopped to taste the cherries afterward. 

Selah Reeve. — The father of this gentleman was Selah 
Reeve, who emigrated from England to Long Island in this 
State. From Long Island he removed to the town of New- 
burgh above Balmville, at an early period purchased a farm, 
and gave his attention to agriculture. We find him on the 
road lists of the town as early as 1785. He was the father of 
a numerous family, and one of the sons, James Reeve, was 



Village or newbcrgh. 173 

taken prisoner by the English during the war of 1812, carried 
to that country and confined in Dartmour prison. He was in 
the prison when the English troops fired upon the American 
prisoners, and killed many of them. This inhuman and un- 
necessary butchery of men, without any means of assault or 
defence, rendered the whole transaction infamous throughout 
this country. Reeve, however, was uninjured, and returned 
safe to this country. But not long after his return, being 
engaged around a lime kiln on fire, it burstcd., and one of the 
sides fell on him in a heated state, and came near roasting 
him to death. He wasin jured by the accident, from which 
he did not fully recover, and in the course of a year died of 
consumption. 

Selah Reeve, another son, commenced business at Hunt- 
ing Grove — now Buskirk's Mills — on the Otter Kill, in the 
town of New Windsor. This was about 1798-9. After a few 
years he returned to the village of Newburgh, and com- 
menced the manufacture of brown earthen ware — much 
needed at the time, and valuable as household utensils, both 
to the rich and poor. We think this the first effort of the 
kind in this vicinity, if not in the coifnty. We are aware 
that Doct. David R.Arnell, late of Goshen, conducted in 1804, 
a manufactory of the same article at Prospect Hill, near 
Scotchtown, in the town of Walkill. The probability is, 
these gentlemen were engaged in this business at or about the 
same time. We are of opinion, as a general principle, that 
the man who originates a new business in any department, 
productive of public good or private convenience, or who 
gives his time, talents and pecuniary means to a new and 
untried pursuit, is worthy of special note and remembrance. 
There is always a future, certain and enlarged public benefit, 
based on such efforts, which unobserved and silently dissemi- 
nates its influences in a thousand ways over the face of com- 
munity — productive of positive and substantial good ; — the 
people at large, in the meantime, like the swine eating fruit 
beneath the tree, think not, nor care to enquire whence the 
benefaction comes. They have and enjoy it, and that is all 
they know or care about it. Those individuals who come in 
afterward, take up and pursue the business, with the experi- 
ment ready performed at their hands, in all its various depart- 
ments, are worthy only of common praise ; for it is a small 
matter to do that which has been previously executed in all 
its details. 

From this manufacture Mr. Reeve entered into commercial 
business in the village, and continued it till the time of hi* 



174 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

death. He had the reputation of a man of integrity in his 
business, and died in the full confidence of the community in 
which he lived. 

Mr. Joseph Reeve, another son, in like manner com- 
menced a new bnsiness in New burgh — the manufacture of 
whalebone whips for which he procured a patent from Gov- 
ernment. No small manufacturer ever had greater success 
than this. His whips were in the hand of every person in 
town and country, who rode a horse or drove a carriage. — 
When young, we were not considered dressed or equipped to 
go abroad on public occasions, unless sporting Reeve's whale- 
bone whip with silver mounting. We remember the whip 
with feelings of pride, and the maker with gratitude. This 
individual was a whole souled citizen, and nature had placed 
upon him the impress of her nobility. He also conducted 
the gold and silversmith business. We do not know when 
he retired from business. He died in September, 1828, after 
a lingering illness of several months, in consequence of an 
injury received on the head, being attacked by two ruffians 
in the street. The effects of the injury then received never 
left him, and were the'procuring cause of his death. 

During - the war of 1812, and when the militia from this 
section of country were called out in mass to defend the city 
and harbor of New York, Joseph Reeve accompanied them 
and discharged the office of adjutant. The troops were sta- 
tioned at Hasrlem Heights on Yoik Island seven miles from 
the city. Having nothing to do but the usual routine of 
camp duty, the officrs did not confine themselves very strictly 
to quarters. One night a number of them with their friends 
from the ranks attended the Park Theatre. As they entered 
the pit, jammed to overflowing and boxes crowded, the or- 
chestra were playing some airs new to to the Newburgh boys, 
and which they thought foolish and unmeaning, and they 
called for something of a patriotic character, which they 
could understand. The call not being responded to, nor the 
music changed, Reeve, at the instigation of his friends around 
him, rose upon his bench, and taking the house, managers, 
and orchestra by surprise, began to sing the old patriot song, 
commencing — 

Let Britain sing God save the king, 
And play it on the fiddle, — 

and the fiddles of the orchestra ceased their quick, harsh 
tweedle, tweedle, twcedle, and the house in a moment was 
quiet. As Reeve proceeded, gaining confidence at every 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 175 

line, he poured a loud, rich volume of music, in tones more 
and more captivating-, till the house was silent as the cham- 
ber of death. When he ended the strain, up went the cheer- 
ing - and loud encore. Reeve responded to the call, and sang 
it again in tones and manner more and more captivating 
than before, and when he ceased, one spontaneous and uni- 
versal shout, deafening as a peal of thunder went up from 
the whole audience, shaking the walls by its vibrations. 

This certainly was a hazardous and doubtful experiment. 
on the part of his friends, but they knew the power and reli- 
ability of their man, and all they wanted to ensure success 
was the opportunity to try it. Few men but Reeve could 
attempt an exhibition like that, with any prospect of success. 
He possessed the rare and happy faculty of infusing into his 
voice an.! manner, any amount, of feeling, pathos or fun, and 
could make you weep or laugh at pleasure. His voice, while 
it was soft and sonorous, was loud as the trumpet blast, and 
high as the bugle. Such is the power of music in a master's 
hand, and really 

" Tt has charms to soothe the savage breast, 
And bend the knotty oak.'' 

Samuel Downing. — We have been tedious in our account 
of Newburgh, yet we cannot leave this part of our paper, 
with-out a brief notice of this gentleman. Though not an 
early settler in the town, we respectfully mention him for a 
particular object. As we have previously remarked, we claim 
to notice men as much for the good they have done, or caused 
to be done in community, as for an early settlement. We do 
not know when Mr. Downing or his ancestors settled in 
in the town, yet we believe him to be of English origin. — 
At an early period of his settlement in Newburgh he gave his 
attention, beside his usual occupation to horticulture, and to 
that department which included the nursery. As early as 
1810, we see by his public advertisement he offered for sale 
trees engrafted and inoculated, of the following kinds: ap- 
ples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, &c. We believe 
Mr. Downing was the first and only individual in this part of 
the country, who offered to supply trees of the kind. He 
was the first in the business in this vicinity. We are aware 
that Mr. Noah Townsend near Bethleham in Cornwall, ad- 
vertised nursery trees for sale in 1805. This inclination of 
Mr. Downing to improve the fruit of the county was gradu- 
ally infused into his children as they grow up, deter- 
mined the nature of their occupations, and was the means 



176 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

of changing and renewing the whole system of fruits not only 
in this part of the country, but in many parts of the Union. — 
We need not remark on the extent and value of the number- 
less fruit trees, shrubs and flowers which are annually culti- 
vated and sold by the Messrs, Downing,for t.hey effect the fruit 
orchards and house yards of thousands in every portion 
of the Union. We think we have heard that more fiuit trees 
had been sent by them into the state of Mississippi, in one 
year, than had been sold to be planted even in the State of 
New York, in the same time. The truth is, the Messrs. Down- 
ing have the reputation of giving you the fruits and plants 
you purchase, which cannot be affirmed of all in the same 
line of business, which gives them and their trees a character 
wherever they go. If they have the tree you wish you can 
get it, if 'they have not they will say so, and rather lose the 
prospect of a sale than cheo.t you by giving one of another 
kind, which the purchaser can only detect when it comes to 
bear fruit. These gentlemen spare no expense nor effort to 
procure fruits and shrubs, for use and ornament, and the civ- 
ilized world is subjected to their researches. Industry likethi* 
really deserves, as we believe it has received, the good will 
and patronage of their fellow citizens. It. is well for every 
nation and the condition of the world, and ha9 been in every 
period of its past existence, that, the occupation of producing 
directly from the bosom of the earth is the most virtuous and 
honorable among men. All our wants, from the staff of life 
to the end of our ten thousand enjoyments and luxuries, are 
based on, and spring from, this direction. When these occu- 
pations fail and become neglected as too laborious or beneath 
the dignity of honorable men, the society which experiences 
such abandonment of the organic law of its nature, will ret- 
rograde and fall back with rapid strides to discomfort and 
barbarism. Man is so constituted as to want, relish and enjoy 
not only those tilings which may injure and corrupt his na- 
ture, but those which are innocent and harmless; and our 
opinion is that the products of which we speak, whether fruit 
or flowers, are admirably calculated to subdue the appetites, 
feelings and affections, improve the social condition of men, 
and win them from the rude and grosser habits, to those of sim- 
plicity, elegance and virtue. We cannot have too great a va- 
riety of fine fruits for the table, too many shrubs and flowers to 
regale and delight the senses. The point of the whole matter 
is improvement, and we are as much bound to make better the 
things by which we are surrounded and which administer to 
our comfort and convenience, as we are to elevate the stnn- 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 177 

dard of our morals. It has been said that he who make* 
two blades of grass grow where there was but one before, de- 
serves more just praise than if he had built a city. This illus- 
trates our meaning, and while we honor those who take plea- 
sure in the things we speak of, we feel as if we could not 
commune with those who have no taste nor inclination for 
them. What more improves and refines the taste, cultivate? 
the understanding, or is better calculated to lead our thoughts 
and affections upward to the Parent of all good, than the 
weakest and tenderest plant. The care bestowed upon it, 
the affection with which it is cherished, the drop of water 
that feeds it, are like the care and loving kindness which God 
exercises hourly toward us, his creatures, and like his rain 
showers from heaven upon the earth. These are old and stale 
truths, but they haunt the mind, and we must needs vent 
them through the medium of our humble paper. 

We look upon the tiny flower as it breaks from the earth 
to see the light and feel the warm influences of the early 
spring, when " dissolving snows are in the liquid torrent lost, 
and mountains lift their green heads to the sky," as one of the 
little keys which unlocks to the mind, with an easy touch, 
the great volume of nature, and admits the spectator to an 
exploration of a beautiful and interesting portion of her works. 
We almost pity the individual to whom the fragile and ten- 
der flower has no endearing beauties, imparts no pleasures, 
nor lifis his mind up to the God of the universe, who feeds 
it with rains and dews from heaven — himself, the while, 
fed from the same great store house in the skies. His mind 
loses half the enjoyment intended to please and gratify 
the kindest and most delicate portion of his nature. The 
omission to feel and cultivate such influences is one of the 
negative means that leads him away and wins him from his 
father's mansion. God in wisdom has thrown around us, not 
only the magnificent productions of his power for our contem- 
plation and to remind us of our frailty ; but sown everywhere 
the small and beautiful to please and win our affections, and 
prove his minute providential care. Cold and insensible 
must be the heart, untuned to all the finer feelings of the 
soul, which does not sec and feel wonderful beauty and good- 
ness in the common grass beneath his feet, and in the flower 
bud as it gushes forth to shed its fragrance on the vernal air. 

'• There's not a tint that paints the rose, 

Or decks the lily fair, 
Or streaks the humblest flower that grows 

But Heaven has placed it there." 

L 



173 TILLAGE OF NEWBURH. 

Johw McAuLEi'. — This individual was brought out to this 
state from Ireland by his two elder brothers, William and 
Robert McAuley, when he was 12 years old, about the year 
1757. The family is Scotch, though before emigration they 
had lived one hundred years in Ireland, having a lease for 99 
years of an estate which afterwards came to Lady Mary Ross, 
with a tannery on it — which lease she refused to renew when 
it ran out, intending to prostrate the improvements, and throw 
the lands into the grounds around her mansion. The family 
• hen removed to London, and John was apprenticed to a 
merchant in the city. 

One reason for going to London was, that James, the oldest 
son, was then residing there — an officer in the customs. He 
died soon after, and the other brothers concluded to emigrate, 
and try their fortunes in the new and comparatively unsettled 
wilds of America. As they did not wish to leave their little 
brother John behind, they purchased his indenture. Their 
father and mother being aged and not under the necessity of 
emigration, with their daughter Mary, remained in London. 
When Mary grew up she married John Proffet Nixon, the 
father of Mr. George Nixon, late of the city of New York, 
deceased. By the time the war of the Revolution closed, the 
father, mother and Mr. Nixon had all died, leaving Mrs. 
Nixon with her infant child George, (about two years old,) 
surviving ; when the brothers, with a praiseworthy affection, 
sent out. to England an old family servant — who had cheer- 
ily clung to the fortunes of the young men in their emi- 
gration — by the name of Hugh, and brought out Mrs. Nixon 
and child. On their arrival here, the boys having then all 
grown up to mens' estate, located and in business, John 
adopted young Nixon as his child, placed him in his store in 
Newburgh, provided for him as if his own son, and when of 
age sat him up in mercantile business in the city of New York. 
We now go back in our narrative to say that when the 
Mc An leys came to New York they placed John in the 
store of Mr. William Gillerland, an extensive wine merchant 
in the city and a relative of the family. They brought out. 
with them j£12,00 each, which was put under the direction 
nvA expenditure of Mr. Gillerland. Tin's gentleman accom- 
panied Robert and William into the northern part of the 
^»ate, and inspected the lands they proposed to purchase, and 
performed many friendly offices for them. They purchased 
a large tract of land at Crown Point in Essex county, on the 
west side of Lake Champlain, sufficient when divided to make 
i farm for each. Here Robert and William settled, and went 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 179 

to work like men in felling the stately timber that covered 
the purchase, and clearing it up for the reception of seed. 
In the meantime, John did not remain long" in the city of 
New York, but returned to his brothers at the North, and 
the next we hear of him, he was in a store at Montreal, in 
Canada. That situation, doubtless, was procured for him by 
Mr. Gillerland, whose connections resided in the northern 
part of the state, whose intercourse and business transactions 
to some extent were in that direction. It appears he was dis- 
contented with his situation there, as the population was prin- 
cipally French, and he did not understand the language and 
wished to return. Bishop Oglevie, being in Canada on busi- 
ness appertaining to the church, was authorized to bring him 
back to New York, which he did, when he was placed with 
an extensive brewer in the city, where he remained till of 
age. Being brought up to mercantile business, he soon en- 
gaged in it. on his own account. Chronology here is of but 
little moment, and we shall not attempt to be very particular 
as to the order of time. The first place in the village of 
Newburgh at which he transacted mercantile business — and 
he was among the first who attempted it — was on an old 
dock, now known as De Wint's dock. He commenced alone, 
but afterwards was in company with Mr. Hugh Walsh and a 
Mr. Brown. This firm was dissolved, and Mr. McAuley 
1 eft and established himself in business in the city of New 
York. He was there but a short time before his old partners, 
Walsh and Brown united with him again. His mercantile 
transactions there were of but short duration, and broken up 
by the following facts, which made deep inroads into his pe- 
cuniary affairs. 

Before the war of the Revolution and previous to his going 
to New York as above stated, he had been in partnership with 
William McNeal of Fishkill, in Dutchess county, and did 
business at Fishkill village. This partnership was of several 
years standing, and was broken up by the operations of the 
war, in some way of which we are not particularly informed. 
At the dissolution of the firm they were heavily in debt in 
the city of New York. Mr. McAuley paid in his half of the 
debt, and their city creditors agreed to give McNeal time 
till he could pay his share. This remained unadjusted for 
some years. McNeal was not a man of much property, 
though his wife was rich in her own right, which gave him 
a fictitious reputation in pecuniary matters. His affairs were 
in thi3 condition when he went to New York, as previously 
slated, and the creditors of McAuley and McNeal being nit- 



180 TILLAGE OF NEWBURCH. 

willing to extend them a longer credit, he was forced, not by 
legal means, to pay McNeal's share of the debt, rising £650. 
Mc Neal seems to have been honest in the whole transaction, 
and indemnified Mr. McAuley by conveying to him a farm 
in Dutchess county, to hold till paid by a sale of the farm, or 
otherwise. 

McNeal had an offer for it, and requested a reconveyance 
to perfect the sale, which was made, and the consideration 
paid to McNeal. Very shortly after this time, and before 
Mr. McAuley knew of the receipt of the money — then 
living in Newburgh — there was a training or military parade 
of some kind in the town of Fishkill, and while the same 
was being held, McNeal, in a state of intoxication or heated 
with liquor, came upon the ground occupied by the troops, 
and behaved very improperly. He had had a lawsuit with 
Capt. Van Wyck of Dutchess county, which being decided 
against him, and at his request tried a second time before ar- 
bitrators, and again decided against him, he still remained 
dissatisfied, and threatened to revenge himself upon him. — 
With such intentions he had previously attended a horse-race, 
with the expectation of finding Van Wyck there, but being 
disappointed followed him to the training ground, where he 
was informed he was to be found. At the time of his arrival, 
Capt. Van Wyck was at the head of his company performing 
nome military movement, and McNeal approached him 
from behind, and attempted to strike him, but missed him by 
the timely interference of some of the persons present. Van 
Wyck ran him through with his sword on the spot, and he 
died in a day or two. Van Wyck was indicted for the act. 
and tried at Poughkeepsie and acquitted. 

He lived to be an aged man, was held in high esteem by 
his fellow citizens, and justified in the act, as well by public 
opinion as by the law of the land. 

After the unfortunate occurrence, and fearing it would prove 
mortal, the friends of Mr. McAuley, knowing the state of 
money matters between them, sent for him, in the expecta- 
tion that they might be arranged and lie secured before Mc 
Neal should die. He went post haste, but death had arrived 
there before him and settled the account. Thus he lost this 
debt — a large sum at that day — which placed Mr. McAuley 
in straightened circumstances, and from which we might say 
he never full)'' recovered. 

Mrs. McNeal was rich — independent of her husband, and 
might, had she been so disposed, have paid the claim with 
out injury, yet she did not think proper to do so. This, 



VILLAGE OF HEWBURGH. \S1 

however, is not a solitary case, for the country is full of them, 
really as unfeeling and cold-blooded as this, and perpetrated 
without remorse, or one word of kindness or look of regard 
toward the innocent victims of such pecuniary defaulters. 

In 1791, he married Miss Sloan of Poughkeepsie, and per- 
manently located in Newburgh. His lands in Essex county 
were exchanged with Mr. Adam Fairchild for lots in the 
village, some of which he exchanged with Mr. Adolph De- 
grove for a lot in Water street, at the corner of Water and 
Third streets, where he conducted a mercantile business for 
thirty-five years. He died Nov. 20, 1833, aged 88 years. 

His children that grew up were, John, Catharine, wife of 
Sam'l W. Eager, Robert, Mary and William, all of whom 
are dead, except Mrs. Eager and William. 

William McAuley, one of the elder brothers, continued to 
reside on his lands in Essex county till he died. He married 
Miss Gillerland, a relative of the gentleman of that name, 
mentioned in the early part of this article. We are not suf- 
ficiently informed of the history of this branch of the family 
to be more particular. 

Robert McAuley, the other brother, after the war of the 
Revolution, ceased to reside in Essex county, and removed to 
Kingston in Canada, where he also became a merchant. He 
married Miss Ann Kiiby of Ticonderoga. He was very suc- 
cessful in business, and became an individual of great wealth, 
and deservedly so. He possessed all the business talents of 
the three brothers. 

His children were Robert, John and William. Robert 
studied law, practised a few years and died. John contin- 
ued the extensive mercantile business of his father at Kings- 
ton, and is still living. This gentleman has held several lu- 
crative and responsible offices under the colonial government, 
of which he seems to be a favorite, such as Post Master, Pre- 
sident of their Board of Internal Improvements, Member of 
the Provincial Legislature, Member of the Governor's Coun- 
cil. He is a very reputable man, and stands high with th« 
members of the party which rules the destinies of the Pro- 
vince. 

William, his younger brother, is a clergyman of the estab- 
lished church, was educated at Oxford, and studied divinity 
in England. He resides at Toronto, formerly Little York, 
and his church living is among the best and richest in Canada. 

The subject of remark was small in stature, of very fair 
complexion, active and sprightly. He had the character of 
a liberal, just and honest man, who interested himself in all 



182 VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

that concerned the welfare of the village and its institutions. 
He is said to have been liberal to a fault, considering his 
means, in all matters connected with the church of which he 
was a member. His friends were heard to chide him on his 
over liberality in that respect. In this connection we have 
spoken of him previously. As a business man his great de- 
ficiency was in being too confiding in the representations of his 
customers, believing all men honest like himself, and in not 
collecting his dues in time to save them from being lost. The 
consequence of all which was, as was to be expected, a contin- 
ual loss from year to year, by virtue of the credit system too 
liberally extended. Mr. McAuley was eminently a man of 
peace, kind, obliging and humane, and would rather be 
cheated or deprived of a debt than have a lawsuit or contro- 
versy of any kind. The citizens of the village were univer- 
sally his friends, and we think he died as he lived — without 
an enemy. He was an early settler in the village, and among 
the first, if not the first, who sat up a regular store at the 
place. In his domestic relations, we are warranted in say- 
ing, that no household was ever blessed with a more kind and 
affectionate husband and father. 

An anecdote not unfrequently developes the general char- 
acter, and the peculiar temperament of an individual more 
clearly than an elaborate description of him. Under this 
impression, when in our power, we have assumed to present 
the subject of remark to the reader by some incident in his 
life illustrative of character, as the shortest and most pertinent 
mode of accomplishing our object. With the reader's per- 
mission, we will adopt this course on the present occasion, 
and detain him but a moment. 

Some idle boys along street, with a view to have some 
sport for themselves, and thoughtlessly, perhaps, to insult 
and ridicule Mr. McAuley, early one " St. Patrick's day in 
the morning," sat up an image of his saintship before his 
door. The image was dressed up and arrayed in all the old 
and worn out clothing they could lay their hands on, and it 
resembled most the representative of rag fair, for which it 
would have been taken, were it not for a most magnificent 
and endless string of patatoes, which was wound around its 
neck and bod)'' so as almost to envelope its person. No 
heathen god in ancient times was more outlandishly adorned. 
The fancy of the boys most certainly had wrought wonders 
upon the image by way of dress and decoration. When this 
was all arranged, and St. Patrick firmly fixed upon his street 
pedestal, the boys retired up and down the street, and behind 



VILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 183 

the corners, to watch the effect produced on Mr. McAuley, 
when he should come out of his house to open his store. In 
due time the gentleman made his appearance, and they were 
all on tiptoe. The instant the object was seen, his saintship 
was recognized — the whole affair comprehended — and he ad- 
dressed as an old acquaintance. As every effect has a cause, 
he looked around for the actors and authors of the insulting 
sport, and they were soon discovered also. In place of scold- 
ing the boys and giving vent to rage and passion as was ex- 
pected, he gave his attention most respectfully to the image, 
and, as if it were oppressed by the great weight of vegetable 
ornaments, made free with the string of potatoes, which 
he appropriated to himself, the while saying nothing which 
the boys could hear or laugh at. By this time, as if innocent 
of and knowing nothing about the affair, they began to come 
out of their hiding places, and in little squads approximate 
the spot ; which, Mr. McAuley observing, called to them in 
the most friendly manner to come to him. With shyness, 
and some hesitation they came forward, when they were ad- 
dressed substantially as follows : 

He thanked them for the compliment paid him by setting- 
up St. Patrick before his door — for the skill and taste with 
which they had adorned and decked his person, — he told 
them that in the country he came from he never saw one 
dressed half so handsomely — that indeed in that country, the 
boys half the time at that season of the year had not as many 
potatoes as they wanted to eat, much less to adorn St. Patrick, 
— that he himself just then was in want of some, and was 
much obliged to them for their timely supply — requested 
them to bring him a St. Patrick next year, and put as many 
strings of potato beads upon him as possible, the more, the 
better he would like it, etc., etc. During the delivery of the 
remarks, the image was disrobed of his external garniture, 
and the boys, ashamed of the trick attempted to be played 
off upon an old and respectable citizen, who took the joke 
in such a pleasant and friendly manner that it robbed them 
of all their expected fun and merriment — dropped off one by 
one, till all had sneaked away. We never heard that they 
sat up the image of St. Patrick before his door again. These 
friendly and encouraging remarks really killed off the mis- 
chievous young rogues by their kindness, and literally 
poured coals of fire upon their heads. This treatment, doubt- 
less, had a better effect in restraining and correcting thest 
boys than a severe flagellation by their parents. A kind 
word turns away wrath. The potatoes were given to a poor 



184 TILLAGE OF NEWBURGH. 

old woman, and when carried away, she had a large apron 
full of them. 



ANECDOTE OF WASHINGTON. 

We relate an anecdote of Washington while at Head 
Quarters at this place, in which one of our townsmen was an 
actor. Mr. John Phillips, father of Robert Phillips of this 
village, was one of Washington's Life Guards, and apart of 
his duty was to provide for the General's table. If there was 
one eatable he preferred to all others it was eggs, and the 
army consumed all found and produced in the neighborhood 
of the village. The eggs ran out, and Phillips informed the 
General of the desperate state of affairs in that department of 
the provisions. Washington deliberately made him an order 
on the proper department for a butt of salt, which he carried 
and presented to the Quarter- master, who honored the draft. 
They could not imagine the purpose for which the General 
wanted so much salt. It was conveyed to its proper destina- 
tion by two pair of oxen, and Phillips instructed to give out 
notice to the country people that salt would be exchanged for 
eggs at the camp. This had the desired effect in a few days, 
and eggs were as plenty as blackberries. When the army 
left Newburgh, there was a cask or two on hand, unconsumed. 

If we were to conjecture, this mode of supplying the table 
was not original with the General, but, the hint taken from 
his Irish landlady while quartered in New Jersey in 1779-80, 
as will appear from the following narrative. The scarcity of 
salt during the war made it a good currency. 

Thatcher, in his military journal, gives a description of the 
sufferings of the troops during the winter of 1779-80. 

Morristown, January 1, 1780. — A new year commences, but brings no 
relief to the sufferings and privations of our army. Our canvass affords but 
n. miserable security from storms of rain and snow, and a great scarcity of 
provisions still prevails, and its effects are felt even at Head Quarters, as ap- 
pears by the following anecdote : 

" We have nothing but the rations to cook, sir," said Mrs. Thompson, a 
very worthy Irish woman, and housekeeper to General Washington. 

" Well, Mrs. Thompson, you must then cook the rations for I have not a 
farthing to give you." 

" If you please, sir, let one of the gentleman give me an order for six bush- 
els of salt." 

" Six bushels of salt for what?" 

" To preserve the fresh meat, sir." 

One of the aids gave the order, and the next day his Excellency's table 
•was amply provided. Mrs. Thompson was sent for, and told that she had 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 186 

done very wrong to expend her own money, for it was not known when she 
would be repaid. 

" I owe you," said his Excellency, " too much already to permit the debt 
being increased, and our situation is not at this moment such as to induce 
very sanguine hopes." 

" Dear sir," said the good lady, " it is always darkest just before daylight, 
and I hope your Excellency will forgive me for bartering the salt for other 
necessaries which are now on the table." 

Salt was &8 per bushel, and it might always be exchanged in the country 
for articles of provision. 



GLEBE FAIR. 

But what has become of this Fair, mentioned in the Charter 
of the Glebe, and why is it not held as formerly'? Though 
not obligatory on the trustees or inhabitants to hold, why 
has it fallen into disuse'? In old times it was regularly held, 
and for many years in succession. We are acquainted with 
a lady, born on the 14th of October, 1766, now 80 years old, 
who was born on a day the fair was held under the provisions 
of this charter, and in allusion to this fact was called the fair 
baby. Why cannot this good old custom be renewed, and 
made not only beneficial to the county but profitable to the 
village and vicinity'? The county has its exhibition of the 
various products of the earth with numerous specimens of 
domestic manufactures. Newburgh has, or is about to estab- 
lish an annual Horticultural Society, one meeting of which 
has been held, and why cannot the old Glebe Fair be reani- 
mated and brought to life in union with one of these? The 
suggestion is thrown out for the future consideration and ac- 
tion of this and the towns adjoining. It would seem from 
the following notice taken from an old newspaper, that it was 
occasionally kept up till 1805, at which time it had degene- 
rated into a mere exhibition of race horses upon a race course, 
and the affair in the hands of a jockey club, conducted un- 
der the guise of the Newburgh Fair, by virtue of the venera- 
ble Glebe Charier. 

Sportsmen, Take Notice ! — Newburgh Fair will commence on Tuesday, 
the fourteenth of October next, agreeable to charter. A premium of one 
hundred and twenty five dollars will be given to the jockey riding the best 
horse on the course of Benjamin Case, on that day : The horses to be shown 
at the hotel of Phineas June at 11 o'clock the day preceding. 

A premium of fifty dollars will be given to the jockey riding the best 
horse on the day following, except the winning horse of the first day. And 
a further premium of twenty-five dollars will be given to the jockey riding 
the best filly on the third day. The horses to carry weight for age. No 
jostling, croping or other foul play allowed. 

Newburgh, September 24, 1805. 



186 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

$&■ N. B. The distance to be rode the first day will be three mile heata 
— the second day two mile heats — the third day one mile heats : — the rider* 
will be dressed in jockey caps and jackets, or not allowed to ride. 



NEWBURGH BIBLE SOCIETY. 

On the 9th of September, 1818, by notice previously determined and 
given by several of the inhabitants of Newburgh, the meeting was held at 
the Presbyterian Church, in that place, with the view of forming a society 
for the diffusion of the holy scriptures in Newburgh and its vicinity. A 
discourse was delivered by the Rev. James R. Wilson, immediately after 
which the subject was submitted to the meeting, together with a constitution 
for such society. After some amendments, the constitution was adopted as 
follows, by a considerable number present, whose names were afterwards 
oubscribe.l, and whose contributions were received before the meeting closed. 

CONSTITUTION. 

Article 1st. This society shall be styled the Newburgh Bible Society, of 
which the sole object shall be to encourage a wider circulation of the holy 
ncriptures, without note or comment. The only copies to be circulated by 
the society shall be those in common use. 

Art. 2. Every subscriber of one dollar per annum shall be a member, 
and a subscription often dollars shall constitute a life member. 

Art. 3. One president, two vice presidents, a corresponding secretary, a 
recording secretary, a treasurer and ten directors, shall be chosen annually 
by the society, who shall form a board of managers, to whom shall belong 
the direction of the affairs of the society. 

Art. 4. An annual meeting of the society shall be held in the village of 
Newburgh in the month of September, on such day is the officers of the so- 
ciety shall appoint, of which due notice shall be given. 

Art. 5. The Newburgh Bible Society shall be auxiliary to the American 
Bible Society. 

Art. 6. Every member shall be entitled to a bible the first year and to a 
copy annually, by an annual subscription of one dollar and fifty cents. 

Art. 7. No alteration shall be made in this constitution except by a vol* 
of two thirds of the society. 

The following gentlemen were then chosen to fill the offices appointed hy 
the constitution. 

Jonas Story, president. Rev. John Johnston, cor. secretary. 

Isaac Belknap, 1st vice president, Charles Miller, rec. secretary, 
Joseph Clark, 2nd vice president, Benjamin F. Lewis, treasurer. 

Managers. — Rev. James Willson, Rev. James Christie, Rev. James Scrim- 
reor, David Miller, Levi Dodge, Thomas McKee, John Forsyth, George 
Zabriskie, Derick Amerman, Eli H. Corwin. 

In submitting the above to the attention of the friends of religion in this 
place and the neighborhood, the board of managers trust that they shall not 
be disappointed in the hope of meeting with further patronage, to an insti- 
tution every way calculated to advance the interest of men both temporal 
and eternal It is one of the distinguishing and happy characteristics of the 
present age, that it needs no elaborate induction of facts or train of argu- 
ments to demonstrate the beneficial influence of the holy soriptures on tha 
human family — the evidence is obvious in a variety of ways. Wealth, 
rank, learning and piety have united in both the old and the new world, t« 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 187 

give the best testimony of an high esteem of the word of God, by the most 
active exertions for its diffusion. 

Multitudes, through such exertions, are now drinking in its living conso- 
lations, its purifying counsels. If there is a sign of the times in the present 
age, which future generations will observe, it is the wonderful progress of 
the written word of God. With this is connected a sensible improvement in 
the aggregate comfort and in the moral condition of society in the world ; 
whilst the inhabitants of the wilderness and the isles of the ocean are aban- 
doning their idols, to receive and own the true God and eternal life. Could 
philosophy have effected such a change ? Did it ever shed the light of even 
earthly joy in the cabins of the poor, or make the desert and solitary placei 
glad ? And when we consider the eternal interests of men — here the heart 
faints and sickens, till we turn our eyes to him, who is the author of eternal 
salvation to all who obey him. 

Under these impressions, they respectfully solicit your aid, by subscrip- 
tions or donations, which will be thankfully received. They assure, that 
euch aid is far from being needless, as may be supposed. The number of 
families here and in the neighborhood, who have not even a bible in I 
dwellings, is greater than those who have not examined for themselves can 
by any means imagine; and where this want does exist, it would be as dif- 
ficult to conceive the moral degradation which often attends it. Not only 
in many cases is the fear of God unknown, but even the common and tender 
ties appointed by the God of Nature arc forgotten. Men become without 
natural affection ; domestic happiness is expelled by the fiercest passions ; 
and vice and ignorance reign uncontrolled. To such, what enjoymeut can 
this life, what hope can the life to come, present? The Bible comes to give 
them both. 

To the friend of his country, we confidently appeal in behalf of this insti- 
tution. The improvement of the citizens is erecting the best security of 
our country's welfare. To the friend of human nature, we appeal — your 
own flesh, your brother, solicits your aid to extricate him from the evils at- 
tendant on vice and ignorance. To the friends of Jesus Christ we urge a 
higher appeal, the worth of the souls of men, and the honor of uniting in 
that blest work, which makes good angels and men workers together with 
God in filling the earth with his praise. 

In addition to the above, the managers state that they have recently ap- 
pointed committees to call upon citizens who have not become members in 
order to obtain their co-operation in promoting the interest of the society. — 
Such as reside out of the village and are friendly to the society, are informed 
that subscriptions and donations will be received by the secretary, Doctor 
Charles Miller. 



THE NEWBURGH SOCIETY FOR AIDING MISSIONS 
IN THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 

This institution, we believe, was formed in 1823, and as 
its objects were humane, benevolent and dictated by a high 
sense of Christian duty, we cannot do less than notice it in 
our paper, among the local matters of the town. In doing 
go, we commend the pure and benevolent spirit with which 
its formation and object were placed before the public by tha 
following statement, and its co-operation solicited. We giv« 



188 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

the extract the more readily as the constitution is contained 
in it: 

Its object is simple, its history brief, and its claims upon the patronage of 
the inhabitants of this village, and its vicinity, without pretending or wish* 
ing to be at all exclusive, are both particular and general. For their influ- 
ence upon the public mind and conduct, after having made a plain exposition 
"we rest our hopes upon the voice of their conscience and the grace of God. 
Us design is to be auxiliary to the cause of missions in general ; its funds at 
the disposal of a board of managers, are to be appropriated from time to 
time, to such societies or other missionary objects as may seem to have the 
most pressing claim to assistance. This is more clear from the constitution 
and history of the society. 

CONSTITUTION. 

Article 1. The society shall be called, " The Newburgh Society for aid- 
ing Missions in the propagation of the Gospel." 

Art. 2. Every person shall be considered a member of this society, who 
contributes quarterly to its funds not less than twelve and a half cents. 

Art. 3. There shall be a general meeting of the society in the Asso- 
ciate Reformed Meeting House in Newburgh, once a quarter, on the second 
Mondays of January, April, July, and October, when contributions shall be 
collected, and other business transacted, which may be proper at such meet- 
ing. Every general meeting shall be commenced and concluded with prayer. 

Art. 4. The business shall be conducted by a committee of nine, including 
a president, secretary and treasurer, to be chosen annually, by ballot, at the 
general meeting in October. 

Art. 5. The committee shall take cognizance of the secretary's books, 
consult about a most beneficial application of the funds, make appropriations, 
and give in reports at each quarterly meeting. The president to have the 
power of calling a meeting of the committee when he shall see occasion for 
it; and shall do it at the request of two of its members. 

Art. 6, For every twelve members there shall be appointed a collector, 
whose duty it shall be to collect the subscriptions of their respective classes, 
as they become due ; and these appointments shall be made by the acting 
committee. Donations of any kind will be thankfully received. — Political 
Index of October 14, 1823. 

NEWBURGH SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY. 

This praiseworthy and really charitable institution was 
formed in 1816. At this date (1823) it had been in operation 
seven years, and the results partially seen by parents and 
beneficially experienced by the children. To show its in- 
fluence and general bearing - , we select the proceedings of 
one anniversary to lay before the reader, that he may judge 
of the nature of the institution and its benign influences upon 
the infant minds of the rising generation. This charity cer- 
tainly, in all its seen and unseen effects, which the lapse of 
time and the records of the world to come can only fully de- 
velope, stands directly beside the teachings of the sanctuary, 
and second alone to them. Let these teachings be continued 
from year to year, and from century to century, and tho 



TOWN 07 HEWBURGH. 189 

happy consequences will fill heaven with praise, and rob the 
grave of its victories. True, the work is arduous and con- 
tinual, the seed sown from Sabbath to Sabbath small and long 
in vegetating ; some may be scattered by the wayside and 
the cares of the world may choke the growth of others, still, 
the great end — the salyation of souls, the conversion of the 
world — are not to be despaired of. The promise is, teach ! 
** and I will be with you to the end of the world." 

On Wednesday, July 9th, 1823, the Newburgh Sabbath School Societr 
held their annual meeting in the session room of the Frst Presbyterian Church 
in this place. The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. John Jobn- 
iiton. The annual report being read a motion to accept and adopt it wm 
made by Moses D. Burnet, Esq., accompanied by a most excellent and ap- 
propriate address. After a few remarks by Mr. Johnston, on the encourage- 
ment to perseverance on the part of the friends of Sabbath School instruction , 
arising from the present state and future prospects of this institution, th» 
Society made choice of the following officers for the ensuing year: 

Superintendents. — Mrs. Agnes Van Kleeck, Mra. Mary G. Belknap, Mm. 
Harriet M. Bate, Miss Joanna Schultz. 

Treasurer. — Miss Jane Carpenter. Secretary. — Miss Louisa M. Lewi*. 

Report of the Newburgh Sabbath School Society. 

It is with feelings of lively pleasure and unfeigned gratitude to God,that 
the directors of the Newburgh Sabbath School make their seventh report, oe 
this anniversary occasion. 

The more we contemplate the usefulness of Sabbath Schools, to the tempo- 
ral and eternal interests of those of our fallen race, who have been deprived 
of the ordinary means of education, the more our hearts expand with thank- 
fulness to our heavenly Father for his goodness in disposing the hearts of so 1 
many of his professing people to adopt this mode of instruction to the igno- 
rant, and spreading the knowledge of divine truth to those who otherwise 
would remain in gross darkness. 

It is generally true that the most ignorant in the community are the most 
vicious, but from the establishment of Sabbath Schools, this degraded clas» 
of the people, instead of spending holy time in rioting and dissipation, to the 
ruin of soul and body, are treasuring up knowledge, and laying a solid foun- 
dation to become useful citizens and exemplary Christians. Sabbath Schools 
in which children and adults are instructed in the rudiments of learning and 
religion, must be considered as powerful auxiliaries to the exertions which 
are making, throughout the Christian world, for the advancement of the 
Redeemer's kingdom. 

How pleasing to the benevolent mind to contemplate not only the young, 
but those far advanced in life, learning, (by this method) to read, and thus 
obtaining the inestimable privilege of searching the Scriptures, and discover- 
ing their duty to God, their fallow men and themselves. 

By viewing some of those who have attended this school, and comparing 
their present acquirements, with the condition in which they would have 
been without this advantage, it must at least be allowed that they have re- 
ceived essential, and we hope, lasting beneiit, and stand as promising candi- 
dates for spiritual blessings, as their rich and more fortunate neighbors. 

The school is at this time in a more flourishing condition than it has ever 
been before. It consists at present of more than 300 scholars. The ave- 
rage number of late is 200, they are divided into 32 classes and instructed 



190 TOWN OF KEWBURGH. 

by 46 teachers and assistants. In a few weeks past there has been an ac- 
cession to the school of 85 scholars who have never attended before. The 
whole number that have been admitted since the commencement of the school 
is 890. During the past year the pupils have been punctually in their places 
at the time appointed; they have generally manifested a laudable spirit of 
emulation ; an anxious desire of learning, and readily repeating the lesson* 
given to them. The number of verses from the Scriptures, that have been 
committed amount to 21,440 — of divine songs) 8,684 — answers in different 
catechisms amount to 11,638. 

Our limits will not permit us to enlarge on the improvement of individual 
scholars; it must suffice to say, that the progress which has been made has 
been equal to the expectation, of the instructors; and in a few instances have 
far exceeded our most sanguine expectations : and we presume to &ay, have 
seldom been surpassed by any school, calculating the pittance of time da- 
Toted to the purpose, and the extreme ignorance of the scholars. 

Louisa M. Lewis, Secretary. 

Gazette of July 12, 1823. 

The Medical Society of this county met in the village of 
Newburgh in October, 1823, and invited the members of the 
Newburgh Lyceum to attend. In the forenoon Dr. John M. 
Gough read a medical essay, which elicited from the mem- 
bers a large portion of merited praise. In the afternoon Dr. 
Francis L. Beattie read another essay which met with similar 
approbation, and the remainder of the day was spent by the 
faculty in discussing scientific and literary subjects to the no 
small mental gratification and entertainment of their guests. 

In the evening the Lyceum held a meeting, and invited 
the members of the medical faculty to be their guests. A 
full attendance of the members brought together a large 
amount of talent and information and a rich display was 
made. Mr. George W. Benedict, Dr. Beattie, Rev. James 
R. Wilson and Dr. Arnell each read a literary and scientific 
essay, the merits of each underwent an able discussion. All re- 
tired well satisfied, expressing greatgratification at the literary 
feast enjoyed. Why cannot such procedings be had again? 

RECEPTION OF GENERAL MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 

In pursuance of previous arrangements, on Tuesday even- 
in. >, September 13, 1824, about seven o'clock, the beacons 
on the mountains opposite were lighted, and gave joyful pro- 
clamation that General La Fayette would arrive in this vil- 
lage on the morrow. The Vesuvian appearance of these fires, 
reflected from shore to shore in the still waters of the Hudson, 
in two long, trembling columns, was both grand and beauti- 
ful in the extreme. 

In Newburgh very considerable preparations had been 
jcuade. Two lofty arches, gaily decorated with green branch?* 



TOWN OF NEWBUKGH. 191 

and flowers had been thrown across Water street. From one. 
near the store of Messrs. Reeve & Falls, were suspended the 
following inscriptions. Facing- the north : 

" Hail ! La Fayette, Son of Liberty, hail ! 

Welcome once more to the land of the free; 
Where remembrance of thee and thy deeds will prevail, 

And thy name with Washington's hallowed shall be." 

On the reverse, towards the south : 

" Hail to the Nation's Guest ! 

The Veteran Hero 's welcome here 
Where Washington dismissed 

His soldiers from their bright career." 

On a second, opposite the store of Mr. B. Carpenter, could 
be read "La Fayette and Liberty! Welcome Illustrious 
Chief!" In Coition street, a third displayed the following 
noble sentiment and language of La Fayette, shortly after the 
close of the Revolution : " May this great monument raised 
to Liberty be an encouragement to the oppressed and a 
warning to the oppressor." A fourth arch, equal in tasteful 
construction to any of the others, was extended across Smith 
street, and bore under a banner the simple, but touching 
words : " Our Friend and Hero, La Fayette." The fifth 
and last bore the memorable figures, " 1776." Opposite the 
house of Mr. R. Gardiner a verdant wreath stretching over 
the street exhibited: "Thrice Welcome La Fayette! Co- 
lumbia's bright Occidental Star." At the Orange Hotel the 
Long Room bad been splendidly ornamented for the occupa- 
tion of the General, and he was pleased to remark that it* 
appearance exceeded in elegance any other that he had en- 
tered in America. We are proud to repeat and record this 
tribute to the taste of the ladies of our village, and we are 
sure that they cannot desire a better reward for their exer- 
tions. At an early hour on Wednesday morning hundreds 
oegan to hasten to the village from the adjacent towns, and 
at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, we presume that not less than 
ten thousand people were assembled about our streets and 
wharves in every direction. Four companies of cavalry un- 
der the command of Col. Charles C. Broclhead were very 
conspicuous. One company of infantry from Fishkill Land- 
ing, under Capt. Stevens, and another from Washingtonville, 
commanded by Capt. Wyatf, added much to the parade of 
the occasion. Three companies of Newburgh Infantry led 
by Capt. Myer, and Lieuts. Smith and Carpenter, were much 
admired, and we cannot avoid mingling our regrets with 



192 TOWN or NEWBURGH. 

those of every person present, that the late hour of the Gen- 
eral's arrival should have prevented the military display, 
with which, as a soldier, he would have otherwise been grati- 
fied. But the steamboat which conveyed him fro'm New 
York, most unfortunately ran aground on her passage for 
three hours, and it was near seven in the evening when she 
arrived at the dock of Messrs. Reeve & Falls. The troops 
were drawn up ready to receive him, and his landing was 
announced by a national salute from a pair of six pounders. 
He was welcomed by the committee of arrangement, and 
presented to Maj. Gen. Smith and suitand to Col. J. W. Brown 
and officers commanding the battalion of infantry. On en- 
tering his barouche the procession moving through Colden y 
First, and Smith streets to the Orange Hotel ; the bells rang 
forth a merry peal of welcome, and many houses were hasti- 
ly illuminated as the troops passed, but the imposing effect of 
their appearance during the day was almost entirely lost. 

At the door he was received by the chairman of the com- 
mittee, and conducted to the Long Room, where he was pre- 
sented to the Corporation of the Village, and addressed by 
the President, Francis Crawford, Esq., as follows: 

General La Fayette, — Permit me sir, in behalf of my fellow citizens^ to< 
congratulate you on your safe arrival in our country, after an absence of 
more than 40 years.-. We still remember with gratitude, your services and 
sufferings, in defence of our country; your fellow-citizens, anxious to see 
the man of whom they have heard so much, have hastened to this places to 
testify their attachment to your person, and acknowledge their deep senee- 
of the obligation thev owe you. 

Although, Sir, at this place you will not find Washington, and your for- 
mer companions in arms, you will meet an ardent people who love you. — 
Although you will not find (in our vicinity) those soldiers, whose enthusi- 
astic love of liberty, led them to encounter every danger, without the hope 
of reward, you will meet a small remnant of that army, who, forgetting 
their age and wounds, have travelled to a distance from their homes, to wel- 
come the arrival of their old commander. And you will meet the children 
of those men who boasted, when living, that they had fought by your side, 
in Carolina, at Brandy wine, at Yorktown; and were fed and clothed at your 
■expense, when languishing with disease, or pinking under the severity of a 
Tigorous climate. 

When you first arrived in our country and offered us your helping hand, 
our friends were few — our enemies many and powerful; our cities and 
shores were occupied by hostile fleets and armies — dismay and disunion ha! 
in some measure sprea 1 through our country — but your presence re-animated 
our drooping spirits, our gloomy prospects disappeared; the contest was n - 
•uimed with renewe I ardor, and finally complete victory and success ensued. 
The debt of gratitude wo owe to you and those men who risked their lives 
and fortunes in our behalf, wenor our children's children can never repay. 

Our last wish and prayer will be, that your health may be preserved: 
your useful life prolonged that you may long enjoy the gratitude of yous 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 193 

American children while here, and be crowned with imperishable and im- 
mortal honors hereafter. 

To which the General replied, in substance : That he re- 
turned the corporation and tbe inhabitants of the village of 
Newburgh his sincere thanks for the kind reception he met 
with from them, and for the remembrance of his former ser- 
vices. That he regretted extremely that he could not have 
arrived at an earlier hour. That it would have given him 
the greatest pleasure to have visited the house so long ten- 
anted by the great Washington, and the ground where the 
American army had encamped. That he felt the greatest 
satisfaction at the growth of our village, and the increase of 
its population, and the prosperity and happiness of our coun- 
try in general. 

General La Fayette was then introduced to a great number 
of ladies and gentlemen in attendance, and as soon as an op- 
portunity offered Johannes Miller, Esq., president of the Ag- 
ricultural Society of the county of Orange, presented him a 
diploma of that society, with the following address : 

General — The Agricultural Society of Orange County have directed me in 
their name, to congratulate you on your arrival to this country. Your rec- 
ollection will bring to view the battles of M'misink and Fort Montgomery 
in our struggles for national independence. The ashes of those patriots who 
fell in the memorable contest, have been prolific in producing a stock of he- 
roes ten-fold in number, of equal valor with those of the Revolution. When 
you left this country in your early years, after she had achieved her inde- 
pendence, you left her citizens under peaceful shades without an enemy.— ■. 
They have since turned their weapons of war into imp]. - jents of husbandry 
■ and agriculture, and they have had a continual jubilee. Your presence., 
among them increases their joy, and excites feelings which cannot be sup-. 
pressed. You will permit me to add my individual expressions of joy and- 
congratulations to those of the society, and to pray that yo\iv days may be 

mged to see the nations of the earth emancipated from the shack' I 
tyranny and oppression. „ 

General La Fayette, — In token of their respect, the society has also di- 
rected me to present you this diploma constituting you a member thereof. 

The General appeared highly gratified with this mark of 
esteem. He said he had always been pleased with the art of 
husbandry, and that he was himself a farmer, and that lie 
cordially joined in the wishes of the society that the nations 
of the earth might be soon freed from the shackles of tyranny 
and oppression. 

The General then appeared on the balcony in front of the 
Orange Hotel, under a large civic arch, and received the 
cheers and congratulations of the immense crowd which filled 
the street — but we regret, that notwithstanding the brilliant 
illuminations of the two, hotels, which are opposite, the view 

K 



194 TOWN OF NEWBUJRGH. 

of the General was imperfect and not satisfactory to the peo- 
ple. Attempts were made to obtain a place for him on the 
platform below, but the press of the populace to get into the 
house, rendered this impracticable, and he appeared a second 
time on the balcony, expressing a great desire to gratify the 
wishes of the people. 

About 9 o'clock, a deputation from Hiram Lodge invited 
and accompanied the General, his son, M. Levasseur, and 
the Masonic gentlemen who attended them to the elegant 
Lodge Room in the Orange Hotel, where he was received 
with Masonic honors and the Rev. Mr. Brown, delivered 
to him the following address : 

General La Fayette — I have been deputed by the brethren of this Lodge 
of Free and Accepted Masons, to offer you their felicitations on your ap- 
i nee among thern. Having been, through a long and useful life, the 
steady and undeviating friend of those rational principles of civil and re- 
ligious liberty, inculcated by the precepts of our order, we esteem it one of 
'he most interesting and joyous events of our life to receive you within these 
watts as a brother. Although, as Masons, we " meet upon the Level," yet 
we are taught to reverence the distinctions of virtue and goodness with de- 
voted affection. We greet you, therefore, levered sir, not only as a Mason, 
but as a patriot, a statesman, a philanthropist, and the benefactor of man- 
kind. We welcome you again to this soil, the scene of your early labors in 
achieving the independence of our beloved country. We offer you the homage 
of our sincere gratitude for your early zeal in the cause of our revolutionary 
struggle, and for your unparalleled sacrifice of treasure and ease, in pur- 
chasing the blessings we this day enjoy. And it is peculiarly gratifying to 
us to associate the name of La Fayette with that of Washington, and the 
many other worthies of both ancient and modern days, who by their labors 
ind their virtues, have been the brightest ornaments in the Temple of Ma- 
-. mry. The brethren, justly appreciating the lustre of your example, have 
.linembled to acknowledge their obligation. 

Suffer me, in my own name, as well as that of the fraternity, to offer you 
our gratitude. Long may you enjoy the warm attachment of the American 
l ople. Long may ycu enjoy the satisfaction of having contributed by 
your labor and blood to establish our liberties. Long may you wear the 
! turels you so justly merit: and may the happiness of your declining years 
•vceed even the usefulness of their meridian. Elevated by the brightness of 
your course to the pinnacle of the earthly temple, may you in due time be 
• •xalted to a seat in that Temple which is above, not made with hands, eter- 
n il in the heavens. 

To which the General made an elegant and appropriate 
answer. After an introduction to his Masonic brethren, he 
retired to the rooms provided for him by the committee of ar- 
rangements and took some refreshment. He appearod to be 
much fatigued, and on being introduced to Col. Brodhead, 
he requested him to tender his thanks to the cavalry under 
hia command for their attention. 

The clamor of thousands of people in the streets to see him. 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 195 

induced him again to show himself on the balcony, and he 
expressed to them his regret that unforseen events had 
prevented him from arriving by daylight in the village of 
Newburgh, where he experienced such a kind and marked 
attention. 

While the supper was preparing the General, with some 
of the gentlemen of the Cincinnati Society and the Corpora- 
tion of New-York, visited the ladies in the ball room at 
Crawford's Hotel, with the decorations of which'he appeared 
to be much pleased. Declining a superb seat prepared for 
him, he walked through the room amongst the ladies and 
affectionately took the hands of all. On his returning he 
expressed to one of the committee his great happiness in this 
short visit, and that " there were many beautiful ladies in 
Newburgh." 

After 12 o'clock the General sat down to supper with about 
100 gentlemen, from which he arose to depart before the 
second course. Mr. Hunn, (one of the committee of arrange- 
ments) embraced that hasty moment to address him in the 
words following : 

General La Fayette — 1 avail myself of the first moment I could obtain 
through the immense crowd which has surrounded you since your arrival 
at this place, to address you at the request and in the behalf of the revolu- 
tionary inhabitants of this vicinity. 

From the moment of your debarkation on our shores, Fame, with her sil- 
ver trumpet, and on the wings of the wind, proclaimed the glad tidings 
throughout the land; and numerous heralds spread accounts of your pro- 
gress, and the reception due to your transcendent merit. 

We are told that you visited the cradle of the genius of our independence : 
That battle grounds, places of heroic conflict, and hair-breadth escapes, have 
been brought to your view and recollection : and that many a way-worn 
soldier of the Revolution threw by his crutch, and in his heart curtailed ten 
years of his chequered life, to grasp your hand and relate some tale of that 
eventful period. 

You have recently reviewed the military post of West Point — the ground 
where the most base ingratitude and hellish conspiracy against our arms, 
was detected and suppressed — and you have now gladdened our hearts with 
your presence. 

In your excursions more southerJy, you will be reminded of scenes, in 
which you are more immediately interested; and where your victorious 
sword has carved a no-ble monument to your imperishable renown. 

You have now around yon many revolutionary characters, (amongst 
whom I glory in being numbeied) who, like you, spent seven years of their 
early life in that glorious cause; who, like you, heard the clang of battle, 
and saw the blood of war. — and whose tottering Jimbs and hoary Jocks do 
not prevent them from exulting in the reflection that they fought and bled 
with Washington and La Fayette. 

But permit me to turn your attention for a moment, to scenes of a more 
peaceful character which. occurred at this place. 

If your time had permitted, it was our intention to invite you to view the 



196 TOWN OF MEWBUR6H. 

classic ground, where the American army rested upon their arms, after 
achieving the glorious object for which they were called together- — where 
the immortal Washington, surrounded by his brave and experienced Gener- 
als, offered up to the omnipotent God of battles, his thanksgiving and praise, 
for favoring his arm to emancipate from the oppression of a foreign potentate, 
three millions of his fellow beings, and establish them a free and happy na- 
tion — and where he disbanded an army whose hearts he possessed — and like 
another Cincinnatus retired from the field of victory to the plough, and the 
arms of domestic peace. 

Remindful of these important events, (and who can ever forget them) the 
patriotic inhabitants of this place, have in contemplation to erect a monu- 
ment on that sacred spot, commemorative of that glorious termination of our 
revolutionary struggles ; and they felicitate themselves that they will now 
be enabled to inscribe thereon, that the last and most illustrious of our Ma- 
jor Generals, after an absence of more than forty years, visited this place 
when the country was free, prosperous, and in peace with all the world — 
and who was hailed the successor of Washington, and the revered father of 
ten millions of grateful people. 

I am extremely happy in being permitted to tender you the homage of our 
profound respect. 

During this address the General smiled several times and 
at its conclusion bowed and expressed bis gratification, say- 
ing be " was extremely obliged." 

He was then conducted by the committee to the steamboat 
which left the clock about two o'clock for Poughkeepsie, at- 
tended by a deputation from this village. 

Gazette of September 18, 1824. 



HONOR TO THE BRAVE. 

The fields of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma were so 
gallantly fought by the American forces under Gen. Taylor, 
that the citizens of Newburgli felt themselves constrained by 
a deep sense of patriot duty to themselves, and justice to Col. 
Win. G. Belknap, their townsman, who largely partook of 
the dangers of the fight, to manifest their sense of his noble 
bearing by some public testimonial, called a meeting of the 
citizens for advice and consultation when the following pro- 
ceedings were had : 

At a meeting of the citizens of Newburgli, at the Orange 
Hotel, on the 27th of June, 1846, called to concert measures 
for presenting to our townsman, Col. Wm. G. Belknap, an 
appropriate mark of their approbation of his military ser- 
vices, Capt. Henry Robinson was called to the chair, and D. 
W. Bate appointed secretary. 

On motion, The chair appointed James G. Clinton, David 
W. Bate, Sam'l W. Eager, James Belknap and Sanrl J. 
Farnum, a committee to draw up and report such resolutions 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 197 

expressing the sense and the particular manner in which the 
object of the meeting - ought to be carried out. 

The committee, after a short absence, by Mr. Clinton their 
chairman, reported the following preamble and resolutions, 
which being considered were unanimously adopted: 

Whereas, Lieutenant Colonel William G. Belknap when a youth entered 
the service of our country from this his native town, as an officer in the war 
of 1812, through Avhich he served with distinction to himself and honor to 
his country; and now learning, from official report, of his true and noble 
hearing on the 8th and 9th of May last, in the severely contested battles of 
Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma under General Taylor, on the east bank 
of the Rio Grande, in which we acknowledge his services specially on those 
two occasions as highly meritorious — truly honorable to the country — bene- 
ficial as an example of courage and noble daring to the army of the Republic, 
in all time to come — grateful and heart-cheering to his family and friends — 
gratifying in the largest measure to his fellow citizens of Newburgh, and 
just such as they would expect from Col. Belknap, who as Lieutenant in 
1814, so retired with his picquet guard before the enemy's column, as to ex- 
cite the warmest commendation of General Ripley,* their gallant commander. 
Therefore, knowing him personally, as a citizen and gentleman, and with 
increased confidence in him as a soldier, 

Resolved, That he be presented with the thanks of the citizens of New- 
burgh, who hereby, in testimony of their admiration of his conduct and abil- 
ities, and of his severe and dangerous services in the battles above named, 
present him with a Sword, suitable for an officer of the rank he so deserved- 
ly holds. 

Whereas, James Duncan of this county, and from our immediate neighbor- 
hood, entered the tervice a youth, and has now become a most distinguished 
officer in the Light Artillery, so as not only to merit the approbation of all 
our citizens, but particularly that of his personal friends in the county of 
his birth, 

Resolve], That as a mark of our approbation of him as a gentleman and 
officer, and as a testimony of our pride in him and gratification for his ser- 
vices, we present him a Sword, which we request him to wear as a mark of 
regard for his earliest friends and as a memento of his merit. 

Resolved, That the Trustees of the Village of Newburgh, in view of the 
nature and object of these proceedings, and more fully to effectuate the 
same, be, and they hereby are. requested to engross the same on the minutes 
of their corporate proceedings, and present a copy, if required, to Colonel 
Belknap and James Duncan, respectively. 

On motion, The chair appointed D. W. Bate, J. G. Clin- 
ton, Robert Lawson, Esqs. to procure and present the Sword 
to Capt. Duncan. 

On like motion, Capt. H. Robinson, John De Witt, 
D. W. Bate, and Sam'l W. Eager were appointed a com- 

*Extract from General Ripley's report of the attack by the British on FortErie, August 15, 
1814. — The manner in which Lieutenant Belknap of the 23c), retired with his picquet guard 
from before the enemy's column, excites my particular commendation. He gave orders to tire 
three times as he was retreating to the camp, himself bringing up the rear. In this gallant 
manner, he kept the light advance of the enemy in check, for a distance of two or three hundred 
yards. I have to regret, that when entering our lines after his troops, the enemy pushed so 
slose upon him that he received a severe wound with the bay ct. 



198 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

mittee to procure and present the Sword to Col Belknap. 

On like motion, Capt. Robinson, M. H. Belknap, Nathan 
Reeve, David Crawford, Benjamin Carpenter and General 
Dubois were appointed a committee to circulate subscription 
papers to raise funds necessary to effect the objects of the 
meeting, and that subscriptions be limited to $5 each. 

Resolved, That the proceedings be signed by the chairman 
and secretary and published in all the papers of the village. 

H. Robinson, chairman. 

D. W. Bate, secretary. 

\ During the proceedings Charles Humphrey, Esq., of Al- 
bany, being present, was introduced to the meeting by Col. 
J. G. Clinton, who, being an early friend of Col. Belknap, 
addressed the meeting on the adoption of the resolutions for 
half an hour, in a very appropriate, feeling, and happy strain. 
The committee caused a sword to be made for presentation 
of the value of $350, on which were the following inscrip- 
tions : 

On the blade — " Fort Erie, August. 15, 1814 ; Palo Alto, 
May 8, 1846 ; Resaca de laPalma, May 9, 1846." 

On the scabbard — "Presented by citizens of Newburgh,his 
native place, to Col. Wm. G. Belknap, U. S. A.'" 

RECEPTION OF THE CADETS 

On July 25, 1822, this handsome, military corps, under the command of 
the gallant Major Worth arrived in this village from an excursion of a few- 
days to Goshen, on its return to West Point, and encamped in the lot in 
front of the Presbyterian meeting house. 

Although the Academy is but eight miles from our village, and we have 
frequently had the pleasure of seeing a portion of the officers and cadets in 
our village ; this is the first time we have been favored with the presence of 
the entire corps: and' a strong disposition was manifested on its arrival to 
treat this distinguished body in a manner comporting with its meritorious 
character. 

Accordingly, on the evening of its arrival, a tea party and a ball was 
liven at Crawford's Hotci, by a number of gentlemen of the village. It was 
a brilliant assemblage of beauty and fashion. The master of the hotel had 
provided everything such a company could desire. The band of the corps 
attended — hilarity, gayety, and friendliness were conspicuous; and a late 
hour in the morning found the numerous company retiring. 

At eleven o'clock the corps marched accompanied by a large number of 
citizens to the elegant and hospitable mansion of Jacob and Thomas Powell 
on the hill, where a collation was provided every way suited to the occa- 
sion. On the arrival of the corps and citizens, the worthy owners invited 
their quests to partake of whatever suited their convenience or tastes. Two 
or three hours passed in gayety and festivity, when the corps retired to the 
encampment, highly gratified at the reception and entertainment, and the 
hosts no less so at the opportunity given them of bestowing their munifi- 
rence on so distinguished and honorable a class of young gentlemen. 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 199 

In the afternoon a number of the officers, cadets, and citizens visited the 
encampment of the American army during the revolutionary war,, m the 
town of New Windsor, and in passing partook of the hospitality of Mr. 
Nicoll's mansion. 

In the evening Dr. S. A. Walsh, acting surgeon to the corps, in the ab- 
sence of of Dr. Foot, gave a brilliant entertainment to the corps and a de- 
tachment of the cadets, and a select company of ladies and gentlemen, at the 
Orange Hotel. The rooms of this spacious building were amply supplied 
with whatever contributed to the taste or convenience of the company — and 
the arrival of the Sabbath admonished the guests to depart. 

On Sunday morning the cadets attended divine worship at the First Pres- 
byterian meeting house, where the Rev. Mr. Johnson delivered an appropri- 
ate and eloquent discourse. 

On Monday the tents at the encampment were struck, and preparations 
made by the corps to return to West Point, the commandant intending to 
have accepted the offer of Capt.Carpenter's steamboat as a means of transpor- 
tation. But a wind having sprung up, the proffered politeness of Messrs. 
Reeve & Falls was accepted, and the sloop Argus was chosen to convey the 
corps to the Point. They were marched to trte dock accompanied by an 
immense concourse of ladies and gentlemen, and embarked, hailed by the 
cheers and good wishes of thousands. After bidding adieu to the inhabit- 
ants and the vessel had got under way, a federal salute was fired from on 
board by the cadets, and an hour's sail restored them to the Academy. 

After the Cadets had embarked, Major Worth observed to the President 
of the Corporation, that he had avoided a formal expression of the thanks of 
the corps to the citizens of the village, lest it might be thought the commu- 
nication was designed for parade. The corps could not, however, with pro- 
priety, separate from the citizens of the village without a cordial acknowl- 
edgement of the polite and friendly attention so universally shewn to them; 
And they were the more gratified that their conduct had secured so warm an 
approbation from their immediate neighbors and fellow citizens. He wished 
the President to tender to the citizens of the village, the respectful acknowl- 
edgements of the corps of cadets for the highly flattering and friendly recep- 
tion they had met with during their stay here. 

The President remarked in reply, that it would give him great pleasure to 
be the organ of communicating sentiments of such cordial and mutual good 
feeling between the citizens of this village and the corps under the command 
of Major Worth. That the citizens were sincerely gratified with this oppor- 
tunity of evincing their respect for the cadets, and to witness the soldierly 
appearance and invariable gentlemanly deportment of the whole corps of 
cadets. That it was by intimacy so cordial that the great relationship of 
citizen and soldier, upon which the liberties of the country are based, is to 
be maintained. 

We all hope that the intercourse between this village and your post may 
hereafter be more frequent, and that sentiments of personal friendship may 
also be connected with our best wishes for the prosperity of the Institution at 
West Point. Political Index. 

Balmville. — A small collection of bouses two miles north 
of the village of Newburgh, and named after a large tree 
growing there, commonly called Balm of Gilead, remarkable 
for the strong balsamick scent of its leaves and buds. For- 
merly Mr. Daniel Smith and James Butterworth did exten- 



200 TOWN OF NEW BURGH. 

sire and profitable business at the place. They were the 
patrons of it for many years, but latterly the village has been 
stationary, and the trade wholly fallen off. Still the spot is 
beautiful, and the lands in the vicinity among- the richest in 
the town, and highly cultivated. The stately and ample 
residence of Mr. William Thayer, and the beautiful cottage 
with its neatly ornamented grounds, of Frederick J. Betts, 
Esq., are in the immediate vicinity, on the hill north of the 
village. These gentlemen deserve great praise for the ex- 
amples furnished their fellow citizens of the town, which 
cannot be too strictly followed by those, who have the means 
to improve and adorn their lands, or build substantial dwel- 
lings for their posterity. 

There is a tradition in the neighborhood, that this Balm of 
Gilead tree, now one of the largest and most beautiful in the 
whole country rouncj, was once a riding whip stuck in the 
ground and took root. It is a soft wood and of the kinds 
which grow from the slip. That in addition to its being a 
riding whip, old Mr. Samuel Fowler., a devoted Methodist 
minister, cut oft* the centre stock for a gad to drive his team 
to Newburgh. He lived a few miles above Balmville. The 
form of the tree is evidence that the centre stock had been 
lost at an early period of its growth. Mr. Fowler has been 
dead some twenty-five years, and if he had lived to this time 
would have been 105 years old, being about SO when he 
died. Supposing him 15 at the time he cut the gad off*, and 
the tree 5 — the tree is now 95 years old. The last half of 
the name ville, is from the Latin "villa," and means village. 

We find on enquiry that there are other traditions relative 
in the planting and early growth of this tree besides the one 
above stated. One is that Mr. Humphrey Merritt, who lived 
north of the place in question, said he brought it when a 
small branch from the mountain-; near New Jersey, at the 
tming of, or during the Revolution, and sat it out in a 
\\et spot where it took root — that his brother, George Merritt, 
after it had grown a few years, when riding past it struck off 
the top bud with his whip, which caused it to branch. This 
would make the tree about 70 years old. 

Mr. Benjamin Garrison of this town, now living and 67 
years of age, informs us that he remembered to have seen it 
when not larger than his arm — thought it about his age, and 
that all other accounts made it too old. 

Isaac Demott, son of the first settler of that name, who 
lived and kept tavern at what is now called Balmville, at 
the first organization of the town in 1763, said that the tree 



TOWN OF NEWBUHGH. 201 

grew there naturally, without being- planted — that when it 
had grown large enough for a rail he cut it down, and used 
it for that purpose — that it sprouted from the root and he let 
it grow — that after it had grown up again an old country- 
man came along and told the family the name, value and 
medical properties of the tree, of which they were ignorant 
till then — that some years afterwards a Dr. Brown, who prac- 
ised medicine in Newburgh, hearing that there was a tree of 
that kind there, came and offered the family $17 to let him 
tap it and have the gum — that the offer was refused on the 
ground that the contents of the tree were worth more money. 

This tree is about twelve feet in circumference, and we 
are told by individuals who have known it 50 years that it 
was then a large and beautiful tree. In accordance with 
this information and in despite of tradition and direct testi- 
mony, as a matter of opinion we judge the tree to be as old 
again as any of the previous statements make it. We have 
been thus particular in our remarks on this beautiful and truly 
magnificent tree, to show how little confidence can be re- 
posed in tradition in many instances. If they cannot be re- 
lied on in a case like the present, where the subject matter 
lias been a living object in the midst of the community since 
the first settlement of the town and locality in question, 
when can they be credited with implicit faith \ In this con- 
sists the danger and falsity of early history, by which one- 
half of it is mere fiction, or at most, an historical novel. In 
our remarks upon all traditions, where we have reason to sus- 
spect. their truth, we shall be free to express an opinion, and 
leave the whole to the better judgment of the reader for our 
correction. 

We were many years since informed by John Blake, Esq., 
late of the town of Montgomery, that the large button-wood 
tree growing beside the turnpike before the residence of Mr. 
Nathaniel Brewster of this town, grew up from a handspike 
used in working the roads at the early settlement of Mont- 
gomery and Newburgh — perhaps over a hundred years since. 
On ceasing to work, the handspike was stuck into the then 
low and moist land, where it remained undisturbed by fur- 
ther use and vegetated. This tree, as well as the Balm of 
Gilead, grows comparatively rapid, and comes to maturity in 
•i shorter period than oaks, chesnuts and some other kinds. 

Middle Hope. — A small village four miles north of New- 
burgh, and formerly called Middletown, because halfway be- 
tween Newburgh and Marlborough. This accounts for half 
the name. There was a village called Middletown in the 



202 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

town of Walkill ; and two of the same name in the county 
created confusion in the post office department, and the post 
master ordered the name of this one changed. The citizens 
of the village and vicinity met in public meeting- to change 
the name. Many were proposed and rejected, and finally 
Mr. James P. Brown of this village, recollecting that there 
was a village in the. land of his boyhood, in Scotland, near 
which he was born, by the name of Hope, proposed the 
name of Middle Hope, which was favorably received and 
adopted by the meeting. 

Rossville. — A small district of country eight miles north of 
Newburgh, and so named from Alexander Ross, Esq., who 
resided there, and the principal patron of the place. The 
settlement of this locality by Mr. Robert Ross, the father of 
William and Alexander Ross has been previously mentioned. 

The Dans Kammer. — A high promontory on the Hudson, 
near the Ulster line. This name is very pure Dutch. Dans 
means dance, and Kammer means chamber, and the transla- 
tion into good English is Dance Chamber. The tradition is, 
that the crew of Hendrick Hudson, as they passed up the 
river saw the Indians dancing at this place, and they ap- 
peared so hideous and frightful, that they exclaimed " De 
Duyfels Dans Kammer /" the DeviPs Dance Chamber. This 
exclamation was natural and the name appropriate and highly 
expressive. Tradition insists that this is the true name, and 
the circumstance under which it was bestowed. 

New Mills. — A small village on the turnpike, one mile 
west of Newburgh, and so called from the erection of a large 
Flour Mill at the place by the Messrs. Belknap. The mill is 
supplied with water from the Orange Lake, and with a large 
part of the village, is owned by William H. Beede, an en- 
terprising and active citizen. 

This mill, with its contents, consisting of several hundred 
bushels of grain of various kinds, was consumed by fire on 
6th of October, 1846. The whole loss was judged to be 
$7,000. Mr. Beede was insured for $5,000. The fire doubt- 
less was the work of an incendiary. Though the calamity 
was sufficient to overwhelm ordinary men and deter them 
from again improving the spot, yet Mr. Beede has again erect- 
ed a new building of brick on the old foundation, in the 
hopes of gaining some security against the felonious hand of 
the midnight villain. 

Gardnertown. — A small settlement and district of country, 
four miles north-west from the village of Newburgh, and so 
called from an old and numerous family by the name of Gar- 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 203 

diner, who resided there, many of whose descendants still 
live there and in the vicinity. 

There is a tradition that old Silas Gardner, the ancestor of 
the family, was not so friendly to the struggle of the States 
as some others — during the Revolutionary war, received 
.£200 to convey a lady by the name of Powell, wife of a 
British officer, across the lines into Canada — that the straw 
brought back in his carriage contained the seeds of the Cana- 
da thistle, and was the first specimen of that troublesome 
plant seen in this county, which flourished there luxuriantly 
for many years. 

Hampton. — A landing on the Hudson, six or seven miles 
north of Newburgh, where there is a regular ferry across to 
Hamburgh in Dutchess county. The bank of the river at 
this place is high and sloping, and the farm and residence of 
Mr. John C. Storm, on the heights back of the landing is 
very beautiful and romantic, with a fine prospect. The name 
is from Hampton Court, England. The whole word is Sax- 
on : the first half Hamp, is from Ham, which means house or 
farm. Our word " home " comes from it, and is also used 
in "hamlet." The other half ton, is the common adjunct 
used in that language in the formation of names of places, 
etc., and comes from dune, which means a hill or a highland ; 
from ton comes town, and from dune, downs. We have no 
doubt this is the true derivation of the name, and it perplexed 
us much to find it. The name is easy to pronounce, and 
falls pleasantly upon the ear. The very sound expresses 
elevation. It means " a house or farm on a hill-" 

The Hudson River. — This river was named after the dis- 
coverer, Hendrick Hudson. He did not name it after himself. 
It was so called several years after his death by common con- 
sent. The Butch called it the North River, to distinguish it 
from the Delaware, which they called South River. Hudson 
discovered them both. Hudson called it the Great River or 
Great River of the Mountains. The Iroquois Indians called 
it Cahohatatea, and the Mohicans, Mahakeneghtuc, and also, 
Shatemuck. We cannot but laud the durable nature and 
unbounded usefulness of this stream. The whole length 
does not exceed some 250 miles, and is navigable for large 
craft for more than half that distance — a fact that cannot be 
affirmed of any other river on the globe. It has not its equal 
for free and unobstructed navigation, as far as our knowledge 
extends, its length and magnitude considered. There is not 
a bar, shoal or island, which impedes its course through the 
whole extent of its navigable route, except the bar neap Al- 



204 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

bany. During the year half the commerce of the country 
floats up and down its waters. To improve it and remove 
the bar near Albany, Congress recently granted the sum of 
$75,000.* This shows the subject has been viewed in its 
proper light by our statesmen of the North and West ; by 
whose votes the grant was effected. The great and growing 
commerce of the Empire State, with the Empire West, de- 
manded the appropriation. The great magnitude of the in- 
terests at stake requires a full experiment to remove this bar, 
or deepen the water upon it. If this cannot be permanently 
done, some other remedy must be devised, by locking round 
it, or canali ng thence to Alban)-. 

Orange Lake. — We did not know, till recently, that this 
sheet of water was called by this name, and it is somewhat 
curious to observe how often the name has been changed. — 
We cannot learn that it ever had an Indian name, though 
we think it ought to have had one. The first we knew it by 
was Bennin Water, so called by the Dutch, which means a 
" water between other waters, or, a water within land." 
Though Dutch it is a beautiful and highly poetic name, and 
we could wish for the honor of our ancestors and the beauty 
of their language that the water bore it still. The next in 
order of time was Mouse Pond, and so called from a man of 
that name, an old settler, who located on the east side of the 
pond, after the Dutch abandoned their settlement on the 
German Patent. 

It was also called Machen's Pond. Captain Machen first 
opened the outlet of the pond, and erected a manufactory to 
make coppers for change and circulation. The outlet com- 
poses a large part of Chamber's Creek, which supplies the 
New Mills and other manufacturing establishments with wa- 
ter. This outlet was originally the place where the waters 
of the pond ran off at high water. The natural one is further 
west at a place called Pine Point, and the stream from the 
pond crosses the turnpike just east of Mr. Nathaniel Brewster, 
between five and six miles from Newburgh. 

Capt. Machen, we believe was an Englishman, and came 
out before the Revolution as an officer in the British service. 
During the war he entered the American army as an engi- 
neer, and was employed by Congress in 1777, in erecting 
fortifications in the Highlands, and in stretching the chain 
across the river at West Pomt, as appears from the national 
records of that time. After the war he came and located at 



*Tlils bill was vetoed by ihe President on tho ground of want of unds in the treasury. 



TOWN OF NEWBURQH. 205 

the pond. His operations there, as they were conducted in 
secret, were looked upon at that time with suspicion, as ille- 
gal and wrong. Capt. Machen, of the war of 1812, was a 
son of this gentleman. 

It was also called Big Pond in distinction to Little Pond in 
New Windsor. The pond is a favorite fishing ground at the 
proper season for the sport, for a large district of country 
around it — one hundred persons having been upon it in one 
day, in boats furnished by those residing on the banks of the 
pond. While it is a source of amusement to some, it is of 
profit to others. The world lives upon just such traffic. 

We beleive the honor of the present name is due the State 
Geologists, and we are much obliged by the dignity con- 
ferred — changing into a Lake what lias always heretofore 
been considered a Pond, by those who know it longest, and 
best. This is a great country and marvellously progressive, 
in the magnification of names and things. We would be 
further obliged by these gentlemen, and most willingly 
acknowledge the obligation, if they would increase the num- 
ber and magnitude of the fish in the Lake, but the quality of 
the water they will please leave the same as now. 

Since writing the above we are informed that the Rev. 
James R.Wilson, D.D., formerly of this town, now of Allegha- 
ny, Pennsylvania, is entitled to the honor of the name — 
" Orange Lake." This gentleman resided several years 
some twenty years since, in the vicinity of the Pond, where 
he established and conducted a classical school, and while 
there bestowed this name. We have been informed, as com- 
ing directly from the Doctor, that the name received but little 
favor from the citizens of the vicinity, who treated it as a 
misnomer of an old friend. We are gratified, however, in 
awarding the honor to the Reverend gentleman, for we were 
personally acquainted with him, and here acknowledge the 
pleasure and benefit received from his pulpit exercises. He 
was a literary and well informed man, and a very interesting 
and instructive preacher, especially on the historical portions 
of the scriptures. 

The lake covers some 400 acres, and though not deep 
throughout, yet in many places is so. The durability of the 
lake, as a reservoir, does not depend upon its depth or vol- 
ume, of water, but on the fact of being fed by strong and 
large springs within itself, in addition to the creeks which 
fall into it ; and upon the further fact that it can be drained 
down about twelve feet, which makes the whole contents 
available at any season of the year. In 1845 it was well 



206 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

tested, and at the end of the drought which was very severe 
in this part of the country — continuing- all summer in fact — 
there were three feet of head yet remaining, sufficient for four 
weeks' consumption by all the mills on Chamber's or Quas- 
saick creek, and enumerated under that name. This exper- 
iment on the ability of the lake, as a durable supply in time 
of real scarcity is valuable, and proves that manufacturers 
may rely on it, in any reasonable emergency. In this point 
of view we may also remark that the water of the lake to a 
certain depth, is wholly under the control of the mill sites on 
Chambers' creek which shuts out all petty troubles. 

Poll Rose's Pond. — A beautiful sheet of water, midway 
between the village of Newburgh and the New Mills, south 
of the turnpike. The outlet at the south end furnishes water 
for a turning lathe. It was named after a woman of no en- 
viable reputation (still alive) who lived many years at the 
head of the pond on the turnpike. One person owns the pond 
and another the outlet. 

This pond during the winter is a favorite resort for all the 
small boys of the village and vicinity as a skating ground. — 
This exercise, though hard and searching, is very beguiling 
to young minds, and we are inclined to the opinion that 
grown up children would not injure their health, nor dis- 
grace their character, by making it more of a manly sport 
than it is in this country. As we write this (January 12, 
1847,) we have argued ourselves into a willingness to buckle 
on our skates, and try anew the ice in the fun and frolic of 
our boyish days. It is a national amusement in Holland, 
and their descendants here are still fond of the exercise. 

Chamber's Creek. — A tine stream which enters the Hudson 
between the villages of Newburgh and New Windsor. It is 
composed of the outlet of the Orange Lake, Fostertoicn creek, 
and Gidney's creek, and gets its name from Chamber's and 
Sutherland's Patent, through which it runs. The stream is 
very durable, having Orange Lake as a reservoir, and valu- 
able for its water power. The stream originally was called 
Quassaick, after a tribe of Indians who lived in the vicinity. 
The great importance of this stream in a manufacturing point 
of view is proved by the following statistics. Beginning at 
the pond or lake, and tracing its descent to the river — a dis- 
tance of five or six miles — we find the following manufactu- 
ring establishments thereon : 

1, David Belknap's Saw Mill ; 
'2, David Bond's Flour Mill ; 
3, Daniel Roger's Powder Mill ; 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 207 

4, Caldwell's Calico Printing Establishment : 

5, William H. Beede's Flour Mill ; 

6, " " Woolen Factory ; 

7, " " Buskin Factory ; 

8, Nathaniel Dubois's Flour Mills ; 

9, " « Carding and Woolen Factory ; 

10, " " Buskin Factory ; 

11, « " . Plaster Mill ; 

12, John H. Walsh & Son's Paper Mill ; 

13, Sam'l A. Walsh's Cotton Factory ; 

14, J. Burns' Cotton Factory; 

15, John Barker's Hat Factory ; 

16, Starret, Witherell & Co.'s Pin Factory ; 

17, " " " Hair Cloth" Factory ; 

18, Win. A. Pvoe's Flour Mill. 

We might remark that between, where the creek crosses 
the turnpike and the river, there are several mill sites unoc- 
cupied, each having the requisite head of water to drive any 
quantity of machinery that may be desired. We wonder 
these choice spots have been permitted to lie idle so long — 
while there was abundance of means in the town and county 
to put them into active operation. 

Dubois's Mills. — A large milling establishment on Cham- 
ber's Creek, two miles southwest of the village of Newburgh. 
It derives its name from its present owner Gen. Nathaniel 
Dubois, who has owned them more than forty years. Pre- 
vious to that time they were called Van Keuren's Mills, for 
a like reason, and still previous to that Hasbrouck' 1 s Mills, 
then owned by Jonathan Hasbrouck, who purchased them in 
1753, and erected the first mill at the place. This was the 
gentleman who built the old stone Hasbrouck House in 1750. 

The Vale. — A beautiful glen extending up Chamber's 
creek for half a mile from its mouth. In the centre of it 
there is an artificial pond, which supplies several manufac- 
tories with water. The place is cool and leafy as the vale 
of Vallambrosa, delightful for a morning or an evening walk 
during the summer months. The word is from the French 
Val, and means low ground or valley. 

The Vale is in the form of an ox bow, the ends resting on 
the river, and the arch extending west up the creek. The 
heights along its southern side and at the head of the bow 
are 100 feet above the level of the stream, as it murmurs 
along a gentle declivity to mingle its waters with those of the 
Hudson. The beautiful residence of Mr. Philip Verplank 
graces the southern elevation, the avenue to which winds up 
the acclivity from the vale overhung with trees, shrubs and 
evergreens. The cottage residences of Mr. Theodore Van- 



208 TOWN Or NEWBURGH. 

tine and Mr. Samuel Walsh crown the arch, while that of 
Mr. William A. Roe, on the north, is deeply imbosomed in 
shade and within the soft whispers of the creek as it glides 
by him to pass beneath the bridge thrown across its mouth. 

King's Hill. — A high eminence in the northwest part of 
the town. The west line of the town of Newburgh, which 
is the east line of the town of Montgomery, passes directly 
over the crown of this hill. The prospect from this place is 
beautiful and extensive in all directions. The name by 
some is said to be from an early settler by the name of King, 
and has been known by that appellation for seventy or eighty 
years : others say its name is by way of eminence, being the 
highest land in the vicinity. The word hill is from the Saxon 
Ml, and means " high land lower than a mountain." 

Racoon Hill. — Another high eminence directly north from 
King's Hill, just in Newburgh, and so called (per tradition) 
from being a favorite haunt of that animal at the early set- 
tlement of the county. 

The Powder Mills. — About four miles northwest from the 
village of Newburgh, where Mr. Daniel Rogers has his pow- 
der works — hence its name. This section of the country is 
low and rocky and well supplied with water. The land 
around it is neatly cleared up, so as to be a beautiful and ro- 
mantic retreat. 

Gidneytown. — A small district of country about two miles 
northwest, of the village of Newburgh, where there is a flour 
mill on the Gidneytown creek. It has its name from an old 
and reputable settler by the name of Gidriey, many of whose 
descendants still reside there. We have mentioned this lo- 
cality more particularly in our article of " Early settlement 
of the town." 

Limestone Hill. — A small ridge of imperfect limestone, and 
runs north and south, about two miles northwest from the 
village of Newburgh. 

Fostertown Creek. — This is a small stream which rises in 
Ulster county, runs in a southerly direction and unites with 
Chamber's Creek, south of Orange Lake. This stream drains 
a narrow valley of several miles in extent, running north 
and south, and has its name from running a part of its course 
through lands belonging to families by the name of Foster. 

It is also called Gidneytown creek, as it runs through that 
settlement and supplies Mr. Gidney's mill with water. 

There is a creek which enters Orange Lake at the north, 
larger than Fostertown creek, has its rise in Ulster county, 
and thus far, during the whole course of an active life do- 



TOWN Of NEWBURGH. 209 

voted to agricultural drainage and neighborhood usefulness, 
has remained unspoken of and to (by name) by all the re- 
cipients of its kindness. That it may be known among its 
-numerous kindred of creeks and brooks in all time to come, 
in books, maps and charts, by the learned and unlearned of 
town, county, state and world at large, we name it Bush- 
field' 's Creek, in honor of Mr. James Bushfleld, who owns the 
land through which it Hows on entering the Lake. We hope 
its name, bestowed without consent, will not stop nor impede 
the full course of its usefulness, but continue as heretofore 
to dispense its unrequited blessings. 

This creek rises in the town of Plattekill, Ulster county, 
three or four miles north of where it enters into the Lake. — 
The head of the stream is in a swamp some half a mile long, 
on the farm of Mr. Henry Bodine. At the south end of the 
swamp, where the stream issues, there is a stone dam 150 
yards long, three feet high of dry stone wall, regularly built, 
and now in good preservation. Through it is an opening or 
sluice way, through which the water of the swamp issues, 
where imbedded timbers of some kind of framework have 
been found. This clam was there at the first settlement of 
the county, and the lands apparently in a state of nature. — 
On this dam trees are now growing, some of which are as 
large as a flour barrel. The stream is small at this place, 
with scarcely any fall, not sufficient for any kind of manu- 
facturing purposes. The stream runs through meadows, and 
there is no hydraulic power in its whole couise. The wall, 
doubtless was built to pond the water, but when, by whom, 
and for what purpose, there is no knowledge or tradition in 
that vicinity. The wall is a work of civilization beyond all 
question. 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

The following is an extract, from a little pamphlet publish- 
ed by the church, and placed in our hands by the Rev. Mr. 
Johnston, and comprises all of the history of the church of a 
documentary character, with which we have been favored. 

" There are no documents to be found from which it can be ascectainad 
when this church was organized. Those who were in communion with it 
belonged to the church in New Windsor, and it is probable it was constituted 
a separate church between 1796 and 1798, as it was incorporated about that 
time. 

" The Rev. John Close divided his labors between the two from 1T85 to 
1796. It does not appear that he was ever installed as pastor of threchnrch 

" 1798. The Rev. Isaac Lewis was appointed stated supply and bo Q#a- 
tinuedtill 1800. \ ft . 



210 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

" 1891- May 6. The Rev. Jonathan Freeman was installed pastor over 
the church in connection with New Windsor, and resigned April, 1804. 

'* 1805. November 20. The Rev. Eleazer Burnet was ordained pastor in 
connection with the church in New Windsor. He died 1806. 

" 1807. August 5. The Rev. John Johnston was ordained and installed 
pastor in connection with New Windsor. This connection was dissolved 
in 1810, and Mr. Johnston's labors were confined to this church." 

Ordination — On Wednesday, the fifth of August, 1807, Mr. John John- 
ston was ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry, and installed over the 
united Presbyterian congregations of New-burgh and New Windsor. The 
exercises were as follows: Rev. Isaac Van Doren made the prayer, the 
Rev. Isaac Lewis delivered the sermon from Col. 3 : 11, ' But Christ is all 
in all." The Rev. Andrew King presided and made the ordination prayer; 
Rev. Methuselah Baldwin gave the charge to the ordained minister, and the 
Rev Ebenezer Grant gave the charge to the people. The several exercises 
were appropriate and great solemnity accompanied the peiformances." 

Mr. Johnston has continued his services in this congrega- 
tion to the present time, making the period of 39 years. We 
question if there is a pastor in this county now preaching 
under so old a settlement. 

We regret our inability to place before the reader a more 
extensive notice of this church and congregation, but the ma- 
terials to do it were not in our possession. We should have 
been gratified to name in our paper the individuals who 
composed the first or subsequent Church Sessions, with the 
trustees who managed its temporalities. The chief honor is 
due to those who originated and took an active part in foun- 
ding this church establishment, and to those who subsequently 
conducted it (o a state of enlarged prosperity. This congre- 
gation doubtless was born during the storm of war — its in- 
fancy rocked in the very cradle of the Revolution, and has, 
perhaps, some interesting reminiscences worth recording. — 
The first church edifice was the old public store house put up 
by Gen. Washington, while the army was encamped in this 
vicinity. In this connection we refer the render to our re- 
marks made on that, subject in a previous part of our paper, 
aa a portion of the history of this church edifice. 

In some instances, when in our power, we have given ex- 
tended notices of these establishments, under the impression 
thai they constituted a valuable and interesting department 
<>f the history of the county. Each one embraces many facts 
connected with individuals and early settlement, and all make 
up the grand total of that department of our historical paper. 
Wo tender our thanks to the several gentlemen who have 
kindly taken the trouble to furnish us with the facts relating 
to their respective churches, that we might be better enabled 
&o spread them before the public in honor of the church at 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 211 

large. Our aim has been to gather up the histories of as 
many of the old churches as we conveniently could, that all 
facts of a personal and interesting character connected with 
them might he preserved before lost or forgotten. In some 
instances we have succeeded — in others, not. Generally 
speaking, the profession have responded to our requests 
with great pleasure and promptitude, for which we honor 
them, and wherever the materials have been furnished, we 
have placed them in our paper ; in other instances our re- 
quests have been treated with cold indifference. The histo- 
ries of the churches, as a general rule, run back to the early 
settlements of the various localities of the county ; for we find 
the log churches planted beside the log cabins of the settlers ; 
and to the honor and Christian character of our ancestors 
they were planted and grew up together upon the same clear- 
ings., In this we find our present phyb-ical and moral great- 
ness, in a national point of view, and look for the future glo- 
ry of the country. From this time to the end of the world, a 
truly great nation must be a Christian people. 

ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. 

The Associate Reformed Church of Newburgh was com, 
menced in 1798. The first members of the church were Mr. 
Hugh Walsh and his wife, Mrs. Catharine Walsh, Mr. Daniel 
Niven and his wife, Mrs. Jane Niven, Mr. Robert Boyd and 
his wife Mrs. Eleanor Boyd and their daughter, Janet Boyd,, 
Mr. Robert Gourley and his wife, Mrs. Margaret Gourley, 
Capt. Derick Amerman, Mr. Robert W. Jones, Elizabeth, 
wife of Isaac Belknap, jun., Mr. Samuel Belknap, Mr. Hugh 
Speir, Mr. Alexander Tilford and Mr. George Tilford. 

Rev. Robert Kerr was the first minister of the church. He 
was with them about three years when he removed to the 
south and died there. 

The congregation became incorporated February 7, 1803, 
when the following persons were elected as trustees : Derick 
Amerman, Hugh Walsh, Daniel Niven Esq., Robert Gourley, 
Robert Boyd, Esq., John Brown, Isaac Belknap, jr., John 
Coulter and Robert W. Jones. The ruling elders were, at 
this period, Daniel Niven, Samuel Belknap, Hugh Spier, 
John Shaw and Derick Amerman. After a period in which 
they were vacant, receiving supplies from Presbytery, the 
congregation made out a call for Rev. James Scrimgeor on 
the 30th of May, 1803, which was accepted August 4th, and 
he was installed in his ministerial charge on the llth of Au- 



112 TOWH or HKWBURGH. 

gMst following ; on which occasion Rev. John M. Mason 
preached from Heb. 13 : 17, and installed the candidate. 

Mr. Scrimgeor was born a few miles from Edinburgh, — 
Scotland — in the year 1757. He resigned his charge in New- 
burgh in 1812, after having held it for about nine years; re- 
moved to Little Britain, taking the pastoral charge of the 
Associate Reformed Church in that place, where he contin- 
ued till he finished his labors and his life in the faith and 
hope of the gospel, February 4, 1825. The next pastor to the 
church was Rev. Arthur J. Stansbury, who was installed over 
the congregation December 1, 1816. His stay was short ; for 
he removed to another church in Albany in the April follow- 
ing. Rev. James Chrystie, of the Reformed Dutch church 
atUnionville, was next, installed as pastor of the congregation 
on the 20th of September, 1818. 

On the 15th of October, 1821, Mr. Chrystie announced to 
the congregation his intention of dismissing his charge at the 
next meeting of Presbytery on account of a change in hi» 
views. He then connected himself with the Reformed Pres- 
byterian church, became settled in Albany and afterwards in 
New York, where he continues to labor in the ministry of 
reconciliation. 

The church edifice was first erected on a lot granted by 
James Renwick on the 1st of December, 1797, on what is 
now called Capt. Robinson's farm — on the hill directly west 
of Noyes' brick yard, now an oil cloth manufactory. It wai 
rebuilt on the present site, (corner of Grand and First streets) 
granted by Mr. Hugh Walsh, and was re-opened with a ser- 
mon by Rev. James Scrimgeor, January 4, 1822, from 
Isaiah, 8 : 17. 

The present pastor, Jeseph McCarrell, commenced his la- 
bors on the 4th of December, 1822, and was ordained and in- 
stalled over the congregation on the 14th of March, 1823. — 
The ordination sermon was preached by Rev. John McJim- 
sey, from Acts, 20 : 27 — " For I have not shunned to declare 
unto you all the counsel of God ;" the ordination prayer by 
Rev. James Sctimgeor, and the charges to the pastor and 
the congregation by Rev. James Mairs. 

The above facts were kindly furnished to us by the Rev. 
Dr. McCarrell, the present pastor, who gleaned them from 
the records of the church. 

The deed for the grounds is dated 1797, and executed 
by James Renwick of Newburgh, Ulster County, to Wm. 
Renwick, Doct. John Kemp, Rev. John Mason, Alexander 
Robertson, Alexander Hosack, John Turner, jun., George 



TOWN Or KEWBORGH. 913 

Lindsey, and Robert Gosman, of the city of New York, and 
Hugh Walsh, George Gardner, Robert Gourley, Daniel Niv- 
en, Robert Boyd, Robert Ferguson, Thomas Tait, Robert 
Jones and Alexander Murray, of Newburgh, appointed trus- 
tees by said James Renwick, for the Presbyterian church at 
Newburgh, in communion with the Associate Synod in the 
United States of America. The Lot was 200 feet square and 
the trust, for the sole use and intent that the trustees and 
members of said church should erect a church to assemble in 
for Christian worship, and also a school house for the educa- 
tion of youth. 

There is an anecdote connected with the building of this 
church edifice, which, as it shows a heart to have been in 
the right place, we relate. The first building stood on the 
hill west of Renwick's dock, on the lot above described, and 
was afterwards taken down and removed to its present loca- 
tion on the corner of Grand and First streets as being more 
convenient. "When the building was being finished, the 
trustees and others could not agree about placing a window 
in the garret : — some wanted it on the ground of appearance 
some that it would ventilate and preserve the building ; — 
others objected to the expense and that it was not needed — 
one suggested that a blind or false window would answer all 
purposes of appearance and cost comparatively nothing. — 
Daniel Niven, Esq., in reply to this last proposition said — 
" that as long as he had any thing to do with the church 
there should be no more hypocrisy outside than inside of it." 
The argument was closed, and a very large window, more 
expensive than any in the building, placed in the garret. — 
When this edifice was taken down, the large window was 
preserved, and it now lies in the garret of the new church, 
embalmed in the pious fragrance of the above remark. 



THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION. 

The origin of this congregation may be traced to the self- 
denying and persevering efforts of a few individuals in the 
communion of the Reformed Presbyterian church, whose lot 
was cast by divine Providence in the village of Newburgh 
and its vicinity. Among these, Messrs. James Clark, Mr. 
Gailey, Robert Johnston and others were the first settlers. A 
society for prayer and other devotional services was formed 
and regularly attended, which proved the means of gathering* 
together and combining the efforts of a sufficient number to 
warrant application for occasional preaching. 



$14 TOWK OF NEWBURGH. 

They were, in the meantime, members of the Reformed 
Presbyterian congregation of Coldenham. The pastor of 
that congregation, Rev. James R. Willson, D. D., by an ar- 
rangement made in 1817, preached a part of the time in New- 
burgh. Gradually an increased proportion of his time was 
given, until about the year 1821, it was equally divided be- 
tween this place and Coldenham. 

At the first, public services were held in the Newburgh 
Academy, the use of which was kindly granted by the trus- 
tees of that institution. In 1818, arrangments were made for 
the erection of a church edifice, and the house of worship, 
still occupied by the congregation, was completed the follow- 
ing year. Increasing in numbers, and desirous of obtaining 
a fuller supply of ordinances, the members in the Newburgh 
branch of the congregation, as they came to be called, were, 
by deed of Presbytery, at. their request, separated from the 
Coldenham congregation, and in 1824, organized into a dis- 
tinct congregation. At this time, Messrs. Samuel Wright 
and John Lawson were the ruling elders, and William M. 
Wiley and John Crawford, deacons. Shortly after the or- 
ganization, Mr. Matthew Duke was added to the eldership 
and Mr. William Thompson to the deacons. The congre- 
gation also took efficient steps for obtaining a pastor, and in 
1825, Rev. James R. Johnston was regularly settled in the 
pastoral charge. His connexion with the congregation was 
dissolved in 1829. The present pastor, Rev. Mr. Roney, was 
installed into the pastoral charge of the congregation Juno 
8th, 1830. 

The number of members is now about one hundred and 
thirty, exemplifying in a measure the saying, " Though thy 
beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly in- 
crease." The present officers of the congregation are Messrs. 
Matthew Duke, David T. Cavan, William Thompson, Wil- 
liam Brown and David Stewart, ruling elders; and Messrs. 
John Little, Edward Wier and John Lawson, deacons. 

We are indebted to the Rev. Mr. Roney, the present pas- 
tor, for the history of this congregation. 



THE REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH 

Was organized by a deputation from the classis of Orange, 
cm the 24th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1835. 
Eighteen persons were received into its communion by cer- 
tificate at the time of its organization. Of these, the follow- 
ing were ordained, according to the order of the Reformed 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 216 

Dutch churches, as elders and deacons : — Isaac Belknap, 
Thos. G. Stanbrough, Isaac A. Knevels, John W. Knevels, 
elders ; Cornelius Bogardus, Thomas Jessup, Daniel Cor- 
win, Albert Wells, deacons. 

The infant church, upon application to the trustees of the 
Academy, were kindly permitted to occupy the upper room 
of their building, as a place of worship until their own edi- 
fice could be erected. 

On the 13th of April, 1835, the Consistory executed a call 
upon the Rev. William Cruikshank, to become their pastor. 
It is but justice to this reverend gentleman to say that the or- 
ganization is to be ascribed mainly to his enterprise and in- 
defatigable exertions. His call being approved by the classic 
of Orange, he was accordingly installed as the first pastor of 
this church, on the 23d of April in the same year. 

An eligible site for the erection of an edifice, having been 
procured, on the corner of Grand and Third street, the build- 
ing was begun about the 1st of November, 1835. A sub- 
scription of $9,000 was obtained and the work commenced 
on a scale of liberality commensurate with the times. Mr. 
Warren, of New York, the architect, and Messrs. Gerard &. 
Halsey, and Mr. Alvah Whitemarsh were the contractors. 
The basement room was opened for worship in August, 1837. 
On the 7th of December of the same year, the present spa- 
cious and beautiful edifice was completed, and dedicated to 
the service of Almighty God, with suitable solemnities. 

On the 28th of the same month, the Rev. Wm. Cruik- 
shank resigned his pastoral charge, in consequence of ex- 
hausted strength and impaired constitution — the result of his 
long and arduous labors, in this new and difficult enterprise. 

On the 13th of June, 1838, a call was executed upon the 
Rev. Isaac M. Fisher, of Red minster, New Jersey, which, 
being accepted, he was installed in July following, and re- 
mained the pastor of this church until the 5th of October of 
the same year, when, in consequence of rapidly declining 
health, he resigned his charge. 

The church was again destitute of a pastor for several 
months, and until the 17th of May, 1839, when the Rev. 
F. H. Van Der Veer, then of New Hurley, was called. Mr. 
Van Der Veer continued to be the pastor of this church until 
the 19th of August, 1842, when he resigned his charge. 

On the 13th of September, 1842, a call was executed upon 
the Rev. A. B. Van Zandt, of Matteawan, which being ac- 
cepted he was installed by a deputation of the cla«sis of Or- 
ange on the 14th of December following. 



216 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

This gentleman is the present pastor and we are indebted 
to him for the facts relating to this church. 

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH. 

The London Society for the propagation of the Gospel in 
foreign parts was incorporated in 1701, and commenced its 
operations with a special reference to the American colonies. 
This was the first society established in the Protestant church 
and it continued its labors generally in this country up to 
the commencement of the war of the Revolution, after which 
the whole order of affairs, as well in Church as State, was 
so radically changed that the efforts of the society ceased. It 
cannot be denied however, that this ancient society was 
largely instrumental in carrying and planting the standard 
of the cross in very many destitute places in this county, and 
in the country at large. 

The earliest notice which we find of the church in this 
place is in the year 1728. In an abstract of the proceedings 
of that year, it is stated that "the Society have received 
many fresh applications from congregations of people in the 
Plantations to have missionaries sent to them ; particularly 
from the inhabitants of New Windsor, in Ulster County, in 
the. Government of New York." 

This New Windsor in Ulster County subsequently changed 
its name to Newburgh in Orange County. In the year 1729 
it is stated that " the Society have received a letter from the 
Rev. Mr. Vesey at New York, enclosing one from Francis 
Harison, Esq., one of his Majesty's council of that Province, 
wherein he acquaints, that, pursuant to the decree of the So- 
ciety, he had enquired into the number, condition and cir- 
cumstances of the inhabitants of New Windsor and parts ad- 
jacent, and is informed this district is twenty miles from north 
to south and sixteen from east to west, and contains about 
■100 inhabitants : that the chief of them live in good credit 
;ind reputation ; but that there is no clergyman to officiate 
among this large body of people within eighty miles distance. 
This is the largest settlement in the- province; it being no 
more than twelve years since there were but five families in 
this place. The people are very desirous of having a minis- 
ter settled among them, and will raise among themselves 
£40 for the first year towards his support. They are now 
building a church, and when the charge of that is over, they 
will advance the subscriptions. Mr. Harrison represents 
further to the Society that it was of great importance to set- 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 217 

tie a missionary who, besides the care of this people, might 
also, at times, be useful in visiting Marbletown to the north- 
ward, and Harverstraw and Cakyat to the south, and the 
Fishkilns on the east bank of the Hudson's River, opposite to 
New Windsor." 

The Society thereupon resolved to send out a missionary 
to New Windsor, and appointed the Rev. Mr. Charlton, with 
the care of the other places, under a salary of .£50. 

In 1731, Mr. Charlton was removed to New York, and the 
Rev. Mr. Kilpatrick was appointed, who remained till 1734, 
when the mission became vacant. In 1744, the station was 
supplied by the appointment of Mr. Hezekiah W T atkins, who 
was ordained Deacon and Priest for the purpose by the Lord 
Bishop of London. This individual was appointed to this 
station, because he had two or three brothers already in thi3 
part of the country. From the brothers of this reverend gen- 
tlemen have descended all of that name in this county. 

In the year 1753 the Society reported that, through the 
Governor and other worthy persons, the administration, by 
an act of assembly, had granted five hundred acres for the 
benefit of the minister of the parish of Newburgh, (heretofore 
called New Windsor) , and for the benefit of a schoolmaster, 
etc. ; — that the inhabitants were repairing and fitting up the 
church, and in building a house for the minister on the Glebe. 

In 1757, Mr. Watkins reported that he continued in the 
same round of duties, and within a year had baptized sixty- 
three white and two black children, two adults, (one of them 
a convert from Quakerism) and that the communicants were 
eighty-two. 

The stations more immediately under the care of these 
early missionaries were, the one at New Windsor, one at 
Wilemantown, afterwards called St. Andrews ; and a third, 
called St. David's, on the Otter kill, near the present resi- 
dence of Mr. Fletcher Brooks. This last went down during 
the war of the Revolution, and the limited number of its 
friends in that vicinity prevented the erection of a new build- 
ing after the war ; the church then being old and worn out. 

In 1761 Mr. Watkins wrote to the Society, that his consti- 
tution was much impaired by sixteen years' services in this 
cold region, where he rode 2,000 miles per year, and inti- 
mated that he could not continue longer ; that he had bap- 
tized 727 persons in all, and that his members then were 
ninety. The Society agreed to remove him to a warmer cli- 
mate as soon as they conveniently could ; and in 1765 they 
sent him to the West Indies, on account of his ill health. — 



218 TOWN OF XEWBURGH. 

There he soon died, and was brought back to this country, 
(preserved in spirits) and buried in the old family grave 
yard of the Bull family at Hamptonburgh. 

After the removal of Mr. Watkins, the church declined, 
till partially revived under the labors of the Rev. John Sayre, 
who continued from 1769 to 1775. 

The church was incorporated in 1770 by a special charter 
from George III. 

Then came the war, which disturbed and almost discon- 
tinued the operations and services of the Established Church 
throughout the colonies and wholly prostrated it in New- 
burgh. It remained in this afflicted and trodden-down con- 
dition till 1805, when the few remaining friends of the 
church deemed it expedient to re-incorporate it for legal pur- 
poses. " So fearfully small was the number of her friends 
here, that it was found necessary to resort to the neighboring 
parishes for a sufficient number even to form an incorpora- 
tion. These persons were duly incorporated on the 4th of 
November, 1805, and adopted the ancient name of ' St. 
George's Church in the parish of Newburgh."' 

In 1810 the Rev. William Powell, then Rector of St. An- 
drew's Church, Coldenham, gave one-third of his time to 
this little band of churchmen in a building belonging to the 
Methodist Society. This continued for one year only, when 
the church became vacant and remained so till 1815, when 
the present Rector, the Rev. John Brown, D. D., then only 
in deacon orders and just entered upon his ministerial labors 
in the town of Fishkill, Dutchess County, performed a third 
service in this church for many Sabbaths in succession. Du- 
ring this period he administered the holy communion the first 
time since the Revolution. His services being kindly re- 
ceived, he was induced by personal friends and with the 
prospects of a larger field of usefulness before him, to change 
his ministerial labors, and settled in this church. Having 
been previously admitted to the order of Priesthood, he 
preached his inaugural discourse on the 24th of December. 
1815, to a small congregation assembled in a building fitted 
up as a temporary chapel, the use of which had been be- 
stowed upon the church by the late Thomas Ellison, Esq. — 
The church began to lift up her head and prosper, and du- 
ring the first year of his service twenty-eight persons were 
admitted to the holy communion. At this time the congre- 
gation began to build their present large and substantial stone 
church, and it was a matter of surprise that so small a con- 
gregation should have been able by the 10th of November, 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 219 

1819, to raise an edifice so very creditable to themselves. On 
that day the building - was solemnly consecrated to the ser- 
vice of Almighty God by the Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. 
Rev. Bishop Hobart. 

Dr. Brown, the present Rector of this church, in a printed 
sermon delivered before his congregation in 1837, from 
which we have compiled this article, being the most veritable 
fountain to draw from, remarks : 

" We have now reviewed the principal events in the his- 
tory of this church as far as known, from the origin to the 
present time. Of those peculiar and exciting circumstances 
connected with its temporal concerns, which once militated 
so much against its prosperity I forbear to speak. Happily, 
the recollection of them is fast hastening to the shades of ob- 
livion and the few who were called to bear a part in them 
as the defenders of the rights pf their church, look forward 
to more pleasant scenes." 

This church establishment has grown up twice from very 
Binall beginnings, and to day we seem to realize the plant- 
ing and growth of the mustard seed, among whose branches 
the very fowls of the air nestled and lodged in safety. 

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 

The Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed 
Church is located in this place and stands on the crown of 
the heights west of the village. The building is rough 
hammered field stone, three stories high above the basement 
and contains many large and small rooms. Its appearance 
is grand and noble, standing as it does on so elevated a situ- 
ation. The view from it is delightful and extensive in all 
directions. It is well built, neatly finished for a public build- 
ing of the kind, and cost $20,000, including the land at- 
tached, some twelve or fifteen acres. 

This Seminary was the first of the kind erected on the 
continent and founded in 1804. Andover was not erected 
till 1808 and Princeton not till 1812. The late John M. 
Mason, D. D. was the efficient agent in accomplishing the 
object. It was located in New York and placed under his 
supervision, and removed to Newburgh in 1829. In 1822, 
the General Synod passed an act transferring the library to 
Princeton, and in a few days there was not a vestige of the 
Seminary left. The church itself was almost all transferred 
at the same time. This is a resuscitation of the first, was in- 
corporated in 1836, and organized the same year. 



$20 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

The present building was erected in 1838. The Rev. Jo- 
seph McCarrell, D. D. is the principal member of the faculty 
at present. Previous to the establishment of this Seminary 
young men were fitted for the ministry by attending the 
teachings of private clergymen in their own dwellings. 

The library is extensive and contains many old, rare and 
valuable works, among them what was known as the Mason 
Library, for many years in possession of the Theological 
Seminary at Princeton, the whole numbering about 12,000 
volumes. 

The first board of trustees and those named in the act of 
incorporation were, Hon. John Willard, of Salem, Hon. W. 
M.Oliver, of PennYan, Archibuld C. Niven, Alpheus Dim- 
mick, of Sullivan, Robert Denniston, James Waugh, Wm. 
Wear, James D. Bull, Daniel Farrington, J. W. Brown, Da- 
vid W. Bate, John Forsyth, of Orange, and Benj. Parker, of 
Kortright. 

The Associate Reformed Church are under lasting obliga- 
tions to D. W. Bate, Esq. and Dr. McCarrell of Newburgh, for 
their manly efforts and indomitable perseverance in rescuing 
the Mason Library from the custody of the Princeton Seminary 
and restoring it to the true owners. The whole was the result 
of an expensive and protracted lawsuit in the Equity Courts 
of New Jersey. 

HIGH SCHOOL. 

This Institution was incorporated April 23, 1829, and by 
the act was constituted the common school, under the school 
law for District No. 13, and embraces the village of Newburgh. 
A part of the funds, $1,400, was raised by a vote of the in- 
habitants of the district, and, by the act, directed to be ex- 
pended in purchasing a lot and erecting the school house. — 
The trustees were authorised to loan not over $3,600 at six 
per cent, to complete the building, etc. The amount loaned 
was divided into shares of $25 each. 

This school is entitled to the school money of the district, 
which, in 1846, was $894.75 teacher's money, and $218.24 
library. The one half of the latter, by law is paid over to 
the trustees of the Glebe School. This law is limited in its 
duration. The number of children in the district, for 1846, 
between five and sixteen, was 1,247. The trustees of this 
district have at all times endeavored to effectuate the school 
law. The whole of the school money has been paid on ac- 
count of the tuition of poor children. The best commentary 
that can be made upon this institution is, it has been in sue* 



TOWN OF NEWBCRGH. 121 

cessful operation for seventeen years, and two teachers only- 
have graced its walls. Mr. 0. M. Smith, the present teach- 
er, has been there some thirteen years. This proves two 
things : — that the teacher is a good one and that the employ- 
ers know it. The school averages generally more than three 
hundred pupils. The building is of brick, two stories high, 
with a wing on the north end of the same height. It stands 
on the west side of Grand street, shaded by some young and 
thrifty elms. The number of teachers employed to conduct 
the school is about four. 

By a special law of the state, procured, we believe, by the 
special exertions of David W. Bate, Esq., the trustees of Dis- 
trict No. 13 are authorized to establish a school for blacks, 
and to divide the school money pro rata among the blacks, 
and while children between the ages of five and sixteen in 
the district, and pay the proportion of the blocks to the teacher 
of that school. This amount is about $50 per year. For 
this small sum a colored female teacher has taught the school 
of thirty or forty children for several years, in her own or her 
father's house, to universal acceptance. The parents of the 
children have never paid five dollars per year tuition money. 
This is a curious fact in so large a population of blacks ; some 
years, not one cent. We have examined this school several 
times, and no children of equal age are better instructed. — 
They are from five to twelve years of age ; when beyond this, 
?hey are put out to labor to earn something for their parent*. 

NEWBURGH ACADEMY. 

This Institution was incorporated in 1806, under the gen- 
eral law of the state authorizing such incorporation. The 
records go no farther back than that time, though it would 
appear from a notice of the Academv published in the public 
papers, dated April 19, 1805, signed by L. Haight, Daniel 
Striugham and Isaac Belknap, jun., that the same was then 
under the care of Joel Cooper, and in operation, and must 
have been for many years, from the fact that the courts were 
held there. The first meeting of trustees was held on the 6th 
of April, 1807, and the trustees named in the charter were 
Daniel Niven, Esq., Rev. James Scrimgeor, Daniel Bird- 
sell, Esq., Jonas Story, Esq., Abraham Schultz, David Fow- 
ler, Ebenezer Burnett, Hugh Walsh, Rev. John Johnston, 
John McAuley, John Brown, Hugh Spier, Derick Amerman, 
Daniel C. Verplank and William Ross, Esq., all of whora 
are dead, except Mr. Story and Mr. Johnston. 






222 TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 

The first teacher, as appears from the minutes, was Mr. 
Bracket. Richard W. Thompson was appointed by the le- 
gal trustees to commence May 12, 1807. At this time the 
trustees of the Academy received from the tiustees of the 
Glebe .£80 per annum for Glebe rents, as appears by a set- 
tlement for the years 1806-7. They now receive the same 
sum annually. This institution has property in lands and 
buildings worth $14,500 ; library, 401 volumes ; philosoph- 
ical and chemical apparatus worth $260. 

The academy building - is of wood, and two stories high, — 
two large rooms below and one above. From about 1798 
to the erection of the present court house in the village, the 
courts of the county, alternate with Goshen, were held in 
the large room in this building. The two small rooms above, 
originally fitted up for jury rooms, still remain. 

The boarding house attached to the Academy is a very 
large and beautiful edifice, and stands on the hill just north 
and adjoining the Academy ground. It is built of brick, 
two stories above the basement. On the first floor are four 
large rooms and a hall ; above, the rooms are more numerous, 
and calculated for boarders. The building cost about $7,000. 
The location is fine and airy, and the view from the portico 
is fine and excelled by few in the village. 

Besides these incorporated institutions for educational pur- 
poses, there are several of private character, of note and ce- 
lebrity in the village. 

The Misses Phillips have conducted a school for the edu- 
cation of young ladies for fifteen or twenty years past, which 
is still maintained, and is in a prosperous condition. It is 
conducted at their residence in Smith street. 

The Rev. Mr. Phinney has presided over and conducted 
an institute for young men for many years, with great suc- 
cess and efficiency. The scholars board in his family, and 
are limited in number. This is still in operation at his resi- 
dence in the north east part of the village. 

The Rev. Mr. Raymond, two or three years since opened 
a sceool for young ladies, conducted by himself and lady, 
which promises to be successful and permanent from the en- 
couragement and patronage thus far bestowed upon it. The 
school is at his residence in the south end of Golden street. 



REVOLUTIONARY HOUSES. 

On testing the memory of several of the aged inhabitants 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 223 

erf this town, we find the following houses built before ths 
Revolution still standing : 

1. The old Stone Hasbrouck House, built in 1750, com- 
monly called " Head Quarters." 

2. A wood house on High street, formerly occupied by 
Deacon Leonard, the father of Mrs. George Gardner. This 
house was the top or upper story of the old George Gardner 
stone house in Water street, near the Whaling House — taken 
off after the war, and drawn up the hill by oxen to its present 
site. 

3. The old stone house of George Gardner, above men- 
tioned, in Water street. 

4. The old Isaac Belknap house in Water street, nearly 
opposite to the George Gardner house. 

5. The old house in a state of dilapidation near Mr. Wil- 
liam Roe's gate in Montgomery street. 

6. The old Thomas Gardner house in Colden street. 

7. The stone house near Gidneytown, known as the Wid- 
ow Smith's. Who erected it is unknown. It is thought to 
be one hundred years old. 

8. The Elcazer Young House at Gidneytown. 

9. The one now occupied by Francis Crawford, Esq., on 
the Burr farm, and formerly owned by Col. Thomas Palmer. 

10. The one near the corner of Smith and First streets, for- 
merly owned by Richard Wood, now by Aaron Belknap, Esq. 

11. The old stone house on the farm of Wm. Thayer, Esq. 

12. The house near Middlehope, owned by Arthur Smith, 
Esq., of the Revolution. 

13. The one in which Eli Hasbrouck, Esq. lives, in Lib- 
erty street, the former residence of Benjamin Smith, Esq. 

REMARXABLE INCIDENTS. 

1799. The following sloops sailed weekly to New York : 
Mary Amney, Wm. Vandle, Master ; 
Eliza, John Anderson, do ; 
Favorite, Benj. Case, do ; 

Geo. Gardner's sloop, Caleb Coffin, do; 

Ceres, Derick Amerman, do. 

1800. Jonathan Freeman and Phineas Haight re-opened 
Cleosophic Hall, and among other things stated in their ad- 
vertisement that good board could be had in several sober 
and decent families in the village. 

1803. Druid Society formed. An editor of that day re- 
marked that it was composed wholly of deists. Their pro- 
ceedings were held in secret. 



224 town or newburgh. 

1804. Jonathan Fisk, Esq. horsewhipped Jonathan Cool- 
ey, Esq. publicly in the street, and Hugh Walsh, Esq. certi- 
fied the facts of the transaction in the newspaper. 

1805, January 16. Benevolent Society of the County of 
Orange formed. The following were the officers chosen by 
the Society: Hugh Walsh, President; Gen. John Skey 
Eustace, Vice President ; JohnMcAuley, Treasurer; Wm. 
Gardner, Secretary. 

January 24. A son of Mr. Warren Scott, aged fourteen 
years, was killed and torn to pieces by wolves, in the west 
part of this town while feeding his father's sheep. At this 
they dame down and killed sheep near the village of New- 
burgln 

March. Mr. William Seymour of this village, fell acci- 
dentally down the hold of his sloop in New York and injured 
the spine of his back, from which he never recovered, though, 
he lived some years afterwards. 

Mr. Townsend of Georgia, an attorney at law, committed 
suicide. Before death he declared the cause — " By my im- 
prudence I have lost my good fame and reputation and my 
life shall be the forfeit." 

1808, May 25. On Saturday last the body of Mr. Benja- 
min Staunton, noted to have been drowned in a previous pa- 
per, was found in the Hudson River about one mile above the 
village. A coroner's jury was immediately called and on 
examining the body, it appeared evident, that the deceased 
had come to his end by violence. On examination of the 
testimony it appeared that the deceased and David Vance had 
been fishing in company the preceding night and no other 
person with them. The coroner's jury, after sitting two days 
unanimously pronounced that Staunton was murdered by 
Vance, who was committed. Index. 

1810, May 6. A man apparently about thirty years of 
age, dressed in a sailor's habit, came near the mill pond of 
Mr. David Belknap, jun., and after loitering about for some 
time, threw himself into the pond and was drowned. Mr. 
Belknap saw the transaction and made an effort to save him, 
but without effect. On examination no discovery was made 
of his name or residence. 

1816. J. and L. Carpenter, J. P. De Wint and Thomas 
Lawrence, owners of the Newburgh Ferry, fir.: used a horse 
boat. She was csllcd the Jason Rogers, and crossed the river 
for the first time on the 13th of August with the following 
cargo: 1 coach and horse,! wagon and horse, 17 chaisei 
and horses, 1 horse and 50 passengers. 



TOWN OF NEVVBURGH. 225 

Powder Mill erected by Asa Taylor, now owned by Daniel 
Rogers, Esq. 

1815. July. Captain Halstead, of the sloop David Porter, 
on landing at New York, observed that one of his passengers- 
had went ashore and left her infant on board. The captain 
took him in charge, and had him christened David Porter, jr. 

1816. Peter Townsend, Esq. erected a cannon foundry 
at Chamber's Creek, on a large scale, consisting of two fur- 
naces and four boring mills. 

1817. The officers of government inspected and proved 
ninety tons of cannon mode by Mr. Townsend on Chamber's 
Creek, and all proved good. They were the first manufac- 
tured in the State. They were made of Sterling ore from the 
town of Monroe, and on trial were double charged. 

1820. Major Ecker killed eleven pigs ten months old, all 
of one litter, which weighed together 3062 lbs. 

1820. June. An apprentice to Mr. Wm. Brown, of this 
town, who had been out collecting money was stopped at 
the New Mills and robbed of about $11. No trace was ever 
found of the robbers. This is among the few cases of robbery 
that have happened in this County since the Revolution. 

July 6. The youngest son of Mr. Halsey, teacher of the 
academy, was instantly killed. His father was experiment- 
ing with the solar microscope — a branch of a tree obstructed 
the rays — the boy ascended to cut it away, which he did, but 
in descending, slipped and fell thirty feet, struck on his head, 
fracturing his skull, and expired in a few minutes. 

1822. Mr. John Mandeville, who lived about a quarter 
of a mile from the village, came in to attend to some busi- 
ness, and was immediately followed by his horse, who found 
out where he was, stood by, and when his owner was ready 
to return, leisurely walked home before him. 

1823. August. Mr. Scott, coroner, held an inquest orej 
the body of Mrs. Teed, the wife of the unfortunate man who 
suffered for the murder of Jennings, found drowned below 
New Windsor. It seemed she had resided in the village for 
some time and was somewhat deranged. She was found 
missing a day or two before, and probably threw herself frou* 
the dock into the river. She left a family of four children. 

1824. June. A number of gentlemen of the Village went 
on a hunting excursion to the west part of the town. They 
had scarcely commenced their sport, when, by the accidental 
discharge of a gun, Mr, Drake Seymour, one of the parly, 
was shot, of which ne died in a few hours. The gun which 
did the mischief was at the time carried by Mr. Jas. Sanfovdv 



226 town or newburgh. 

This event, so sudden — the subject so estimable in talents, 
urbanity and integrity, threw a gloom over the Village. 

1824. November 24. — Loss of the Sloop Neptune. — On 
Nov. 24,about noon, the sloop Neptune, on her way from New 
York to this village, a short distance below Pallapel'sTsland, 
was upset, filled and sunk. At the time of this melancholy 
event, it is understood she had on board from fifty to fifty-five 
passengers, a majority of whom were drowned. 

It appears that the vessel left New York under the com- 
mand of her first hand, Mr. John Decker, (Capt. Halstead 
being detained in the city) with from forty to fifty tons of 
plaster and some eight or ten tons of other merchandize on 
board. About half of the plaster was put in the hold, and the 
remainder piled on deck. In the Highlands the wind was 
high, which induced the commander, when below West 
Point, to take a double reef in the mainsail, and other mea- 
sures of caution for the safe deliverance of his charge. When 
off Little Stony Point, with very little way on the vessel, a 
flaw struck her and hove her down. This caused the plaster 
on deck to shift from windward to leeward. Most of the 
male passengers on board were on deck, and one or two of 
the females, and some ten or twelve women and six or seven 
children in the cabin. 

The shifting of the. plaster created the utmost confusion on 
board. The water rushed into the scuttle of the forecastle, 
which was to leeward, then into the cabin, and consternation, 
dismay and death presented their appalling features to all on 
board. In a few minutes she filled and plunged headlong 
to the bottom. In the cabin all perished. Those on deck 
were plunged into a cold and turbulent element or had been 
parried down with the .vessel. The boat was afloat, and 
when the sloop was going down was occupied by Decker and 
Woolsey,but without oars — they were supplied by Mr. Storm, 
whose oyster boat was just ahead of the sloop; and they made 
the utmost exertions to save the unfortunates. About seven- 
teen were redeemed by their exertion and the other boats 
which came to their assistance, from a watery grave ; but the 
rest perished. 

The following are the names of those who were saved : — 
John Decker, Levi D. Woolsey, Mr. Thome, of Newburgh ; 
Joseph Mullock, A. Carey, Jesse Green, of Minisink ; Alfred 
Crawford, Alexander Crawford, John Hose, of Crawford ; — 
Mr. Sprague, Mrs. Bowers, Mr. Smiley, Mr. Anderson, of 
.Sullivan county ; Lewis Broom, Patrick Kelly, of Wall kill ; 



TOWN OF NFWBURGH. 227 

A. Pierson of Montgomery and a lad belonging to Blooming 
Grove — total, 17. 

The following persons were known to have been on board 
the sloop : Mrs. Conch and two children, J. Loveland and 
J. Smiley, of Sullivan connty ; Mrs. Graham and two chil- 
dren, of Crawford ; John Leader, of Blooming Grove ; Sam'l 
Calisle, Jacob Polhemus, Mrs. McClaughery, of Newburgh ; 
Mrs. Rush, of Wallkill ; Messrs. McCurdy, Weed, Hensler, 
Mrs. Churchill and Cochrane, of Montgomery ; John Green- 
leaf, George Evertson, Matilda Helms, William Kelly and 
child, of Minisink ; Mrs. Dean, of Cornwall, F. W. De Cou- 
dres and Mrs. Trout, of New York — total, 26. 

It is supposed that a number of others were on board, 
which would make the whole equal to the number first stated, 
whose names and connections have not yet been discovered. 

Mr. Polhemus, one of the boatmen, might have saved him- 
self; but in his attempt to rescue a lady in the water strug- 
gling for life, they both perished together. 

Mr. Mullock was on the quarter deck when the sloop was 
going down — he saw through the window the awful mental 
suffering in the cabin, and heard the screams of women and 
children for help, and lost for a moment all thoughts of his 
situation, and undertook to break away the grating which 
protects the window, to let them out. He had partially suc- 
ceeded, when the vessel went down, some of the grating got 
fast in his clothes, and he went down with her : — she struck 
the bottom with a dreadful crash — he imagined his time had 
come — he made a powerful effort, and succeeded in extri- 
cating himself by tearing off a part of his vest which was fast, 
came to the top of the water and was finally saved. 

The sloop sunk in fifty or sixty feet water. The owners, 
Messrs. Miller & Smith succeeded in raising her. — Index. 

1825. A number of persons who unfortunately perished 
on board the sloop Neptune were found near Cold Spring 
landing, in June following, and interred by the coroner of 
Putnam County. The names of the persons recognized were, 
John Leader of Blooming Grove, John Greenleaf of Minis- 
ink, and Matilda Helms, of Wallkill. One other person, a 
man, was found near the residence of John Garrison and 
buried, and one was seen floating near West Point, which 
was not taken from the water. 

1825. September 15. Died, Miss Charlotte Brown,' aged 
nineteen years. This young lady, in company with her 
sister and a son of Mr. Olmstead in attempting to pass down 
the lower section of. Ann. street, in a chaise, was thrown out 



*26 



TOWN OF NEWBURGH. 



and injured, which caused her death. Her sister was also 
seriously hurt, but recovered. The lad, with a presence of 
mind uncommon at his age, sprang from the carriage before 
it overturned and escaped unhurt. 

1825. December. John S. Hunn, Esq., cashier of the 
Bank of Newburgh, erected a sun dial on Crawford's new 
building. The watchmakers regulated their time by it. — 
The difference between mean and solar time is about four 
minutes. Solar time is the faster. 



AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 

1820. Jacob Wood, Second best six sides of Sole Leather, $10 00 

do do Best six dressed Calf Skins, 6 00 

do do Best six sides of Upper Leather, 10 00 

1821. William Acker, Second Best Hogs, 5 00 
JohnNeily,j Best Gelding, 10 00 
Emily Downing, Best piece of Diaper, ii 00 



CENSUS OF THE VILLAGE OF NEWBURGU, 



1822. Heads of Families, 
Whole number of Males, 

do do Females, 

Total, 
Persons subject to military duty, 286 

do qualified to vote, 
Aliens, 
Paupers, 
Persons of color not taxed, 

do do taxed , 

Married Females under 45, 

do do between 1 6 ar 

do within last year, 
Males borra within last year, 
Females do do do 
Males died within last year, 
Females do do 

No. Acres of improved Land, 
Neat Cattle, 
Horses, 
Sheep, 
Hogs, 
Yards of Fulled Cloth, 

do unfulled, 

do Linen and Cotton, 
Grist Mills, 
Saw Mills, 
fulling Mills, 
Carding Mills, 
Iron Foundries, 
Breweries, 



523 


Malt Houses, 


2 


1528 


Looms, 


69 


1550 


Blacksmiths, 


5 


3078 


Coopers, 


6 


lty, 286 


Tin Factories, 


3 


554 


Framed Dwellings and Stores, 


372 


332 


Brick and Stone do 


85 


8 


Stores of Merchandize, 


71 


144 


Taverns, 


10 


4 


Ship and House Carpenters, 


10 


346 


Coach Makers, 


3 


[45,641 


Book stores and Binderies, 


3 


28 


Printing Establishments, 


2 


58 


Morocco Factories, 


2 


63 


Hay Presses, 


X 


28 


Hay Scales, 


I 


31 


Tannery, 


1 


, 2,190 


Potters, 


I 


396 


Stone Cutters, 


2 


204 


Glove makers and leather dfessers>, 2 


586 


Masons, 


4 


919 


Brick Yards, 


1 


239 


Cordwainers, 


15 


2,82 


Hatters, 


3 


139,766 


Tailors, 


5 


4 


Milliners, 


6 


1 


Bakers, 


4 


2 


Soap and Candle Factories, 


2 


3 


Barbers, 


o 




1 


Chair Makers, 


9 


3 


Eeed Makers, 


1 



TOWN OF KEWBURGH. 



229 



Comb Factories, 


1 


Lawyers, 




13 


Silver Smiths, 


3 


Churches 




S 


Watch Makers, 


4 


Episcopalian, 






Gun Smiths, 


1 


Presbyterian, 






Tobacconists, 


2 


Reformed Presbyterian, 




Painters, 


2 


Associate Reformed 


1 




Paper Hangers, 


2 


Methodist, 






Druggists, 


2 


Baptist Congregation, 




Physicians, 


5 


Roman Catholic, 






8 Packets ply regularly to New York. 


1 Steam boat and several sail boats 


ply between the village and Fishkill. 








This, we believe, 


is the only complete census of the 


vil- 


lage ever taken. 












BANKS OF NEWBURGH. 






Bank of Newburgh, 




Capital, 


140,000, 




Highland Bank, 




do 


200,000, 




Powell Bank, 




do 


100,000. 






FOUNDRIES. 




Corwin, Halsey & Co 


. ; Spier 


& Wilson'; Stanton 


& ClaTk. 





TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 



The town record goes no further back than April, 1767, 
and was then called "Walkill Precinct." This continued 
till 1772, when the Precinct was divided into two parts, and 
the one covering this town, called u Hanover Precinct," 
and the other, the " Walkill Precinct." 

On the town record we find this entry : — 

" Hanover, April 7, 1772. 
" At a town meeting of the inhabitants of Hanover Precinct, held at the 
house of Stephen Crist, the act for dividing the Walkill Precinct into two 
precincts was publicly read, and the inhabitants proceeded to elect their 
several officers agreeably to said act." 

From 1767 to 1772 the record of this town contains the 
history of the town of Walkill, together with a part of the 
now town of Hamptonburgh, as far east as where Samuel 
Watkins and James Faulkener lived, and of the west portion 
of New Windsor as far east as where Stephen King lived. 

The name of Hanover Precinct continued till 1782, when 
it was changed to " Montgomery Precinct." This name 
continued till 1789, when it was changed to the " Town of 
Montgomery," by which it still continues to be called. The 
name was in honor of General Montgomery, who was killed 
in the assault on Quebec in 1775. 

EXTRACTS FROM TOWN RECORDS. 

Kingston, 14th of Noveinber. 

Received of Mr. Joseph Shooter and Henry Patterson, collectors for the 
precinct of the Walkill, the sum of One Hundred and Sixty-Eight pounds, 
Fourteen shillings and Eleven pence, Three farthings and Two-thirds of a 
farthing, being in full for Quota of the tax for the said Prijcinct for the year 
I7t>7. Abraham Hasbrouck. 

£16S, 14, 11, 3j. 

April, 5th, 1768. — Officers chozen for the insuing year. 

.Major Colden, Supervisor; Thomas Bull, ) Fence Viewers for 

' John Miller, Clerk; Alex. Trimble j Eastsideof the kill. 

Patrick Barber, ) A J. Robinson, ) Fence Viewers for 
v Assessors; ■ . 5 ,„ • , ,..,.,, 



James White, j ■ tt " DC ° 3UIB ' A. McCurdy, j West side of the kill 

Samuel McColm, Constable ; Poor 31asters. 

George Smith,. Collector; C. Booth, jr., ) for east and west side 

Henry Paterson, Constable and Col'r ; Wm. Coxs, j of the Walkill. 
Thomas fiatv, James Glatia, for the north end, of the Piecinct. 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 23 J 

Road Districts and Pathmasters in 1767. 

Lieutenant Crans, Hans Jerry Smith, Andrew Walker and Jacob Crist for 
the road irom Capt. Newkirk to the east side of our precinct to the corner 
of Major Colden. 

James McCobb from George Monell's corner to Mr. Booth, then from 
Neelytown to Kings'. 

James Reeves from the white oak bridge to the brook, to Barney Roe's 
bridge. 

Jonathan Webb from the white oak bridge to the Minisink line. 

David Current from Barney Roe's brook to Stringham's lane. 

Jacob Crans from Hans Jerry Tice to Lieutenant Crans. 

James Crawford from Nathaniel Mile's to Walkill bridge. 

Henrycon Terwilliger from Philip Mooul's to Nathaniel Hills 

Daniel Butler from John McNeal's mill to Cox's. 

James Crawford to Boorland's road. 

Wm. Munnel from the north west line to Campbell's bridge, and from Mr. 
Konerel to the cross road. 

Israel Rogers from John McNeal's mill to Capt. Faulkener's, and the ros:d 
to Dinaps to Israel Rogers. 

Mihgan Segur from the Dvvarskill to the Walkill. 

Francy Cane from the Precinct line to Smeedis' mill. 

John Miligan from Snider's mill to Denis McPake, and from John Milli- 
gan's to Brasher'sbridge. 

Joseph Hathess for that quarter. 

Thomas McCook from the Precinct line to the meeting house. 

James Eager from the Hone Pot to Colwell's road. 

John McConnery from his house to Mr. Neal'smill. 

Daniel Butterfieid from the fence of Edward McNeal to Cox's. 

Jacob Linderman from to Hols Lander's road. 

John Paterson from Capt. Newkirk's to James Wilkins. 

Francis Newman from Debois's bridge to the road laid out. 

Mr. Haold from Mr. Debois's bridge down the market road. 

Town Officers for 1769. 

Major Colden, ; Supervisor; Samuel McColm, \ Constables- 

John Mc Clean, ) . _,.____,. Peter Crans, ) 

David Corren, j ASbessorB ' George Munnel, -, 

Pelterus Crans, \ /-, ,, . . Matice Felter, r Fence Viewers 

Thomas Neely, J ° John Semeral, } and Prizers. 

John McNeal, ) 

In pursuance of an act of the Gov'r council general assembly of this 
collony, passed 31st of December, 1768, Entitled an act forthe Relief of the 
poor in the counties of Ulster and Orange, etc., there are elected and chosen 
overseers of the Poor, William Eager and James McCord, and as their clerk 
John Miller. 

And by virtue of the authority given by said act, they, the said lnhabi: 
ints, did ordain that the overseers shall, whenever application is made to 
them in behalf of any poor person, previous to their admitting him to the 
benefit of the Precinct charity, they shall call a Jury of six principal free- 
holders to search and enquire of and determine upon the justice and propri- 
ety thereof, and to certify their approbations of their admission, and that 
none shall be admitted without this previous proceeding, etc., and thatthey 
may bind out for the space of one year all_such male persons who have no 



232 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. . 

risible means of gaining an honest livelihood, etc., and that the sum of £2» 
shall be raised for the poor, etc. 

March 27th, 1770. There met at the house of Arthur Park, the under 
named Jury, by order of Jonathan Smith, Esq., to view the accounts layd 
before us by William Eager and James McCord, overseers of the poor of this 
precinct for the year '69, which is to the amount of £32, 12, 5, which we 
allow to be just. (Signed.) Patrick Barber, Alexander Tremble, Daniel 
Butterfield, James Barkley, Johannas Mouls, Jacob Crist. 

1772. £20 raised for the support of the poor. 

1773. 52 do do do. 

1774. 30 do do do. 

1777. 30 do do do. 

1778. 80 do do do. 

In Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York. 

Kingston, March 10, 1777. 

Resolved, That the inhabitants of this State in each town, borough, 

manor, precinct, and district do proceed to elect at the usual time and place 

of election in each town, borough, manor, precinct or district, constables. 

overseers of the poor and of highways, fence viewers, pound masters and 

own clerks. 

Ordered, That copies of the foregoing resolutions he transmitted to the 
chairmen of the county committee, who are requested to send copies to the 
district committee and that it be published in the newspapers. 
Extract from the Minutes. Rob. Benson, Secretary. 

Agreed at town meeting this sixth day of April, 1773, that it shall be an 
Instruction to the overseers of the poor for the future, that when any person 
shall apply to them for maintenance, that they, by advertisement affixed in 
three or more public places, give notice that such poor persons are to be 
boarded out to such persons as will take them for the lowest reward, to- 
gether with the benefit of their labor, etc., at a certain day and place appoint- 
ed for that purpose, and that such persons that are accepted as standing poor 
shall have the letter P affixed on their left shoulder. 

We, the overseers of the poor in Hanover Precinct, having advertised the 
.vile of Edward Barber, have, agreeable to said advertisement, sold the said 
Barber on the 27th day of April, 1773, to Zacharia Curinton for the sum of 
£14, 10s., or at that rate if he should die within the year. 

This was the beginning of selling the poor in this town, 
which was continued for many years. 

In 1774. Agreed that the constables' mileage be taken from the bridge 
where the annual meetings are held ; it being near the centre of the Precinct. 

177*). Ordered that the sum of £30 be raised for paying the clerk : — like- 
wise agreed that a pair of stocks be set up between the Widow Crisis and 
the Walkill bridge, and that the expense be paid out of the poor money. 

1786. The overseers of the poor have agreed with Henry Sincebox, sen., 
to keep Wm. Nelly for the ensuing year. Said Nelly and said Sincebox 
are to render an account monthly under oath of all that said Nelly makes at 
the end of every month, and remit one-quarter part of that sum to the over- 
seers of the poor until said Nelly has fully paid the sum of £17, 18s. 5d. 

1792. Agreed that the ensuing town meeting be held by ballot. 

1794. Martinas Crist and John Smith freed their slaves and gave surety 
against being chargeable. 



fOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 233 

April 1,1794. The following persons were sold until the 1st of April 
next at the following rates: 

Elanor McCarty to Thonas Scott, £6, 19s. Od. 

BarbaryPeck to Daniel Tears, 6, 19 

Esther Telman to James Archy, 8, 2 6 

Thomas Elliot to James Richey, 6, 

Began to sell the poor in 1773 at public auction. 

1799. All laws and regulations to be offered at town meeting shall be 
forwarded in writing before being offered. 

1789. Bounty on Crows, 4 cents. 1793. Tax collected on Dogs, £4, 4, 6. 
1782. Wolf bounty, $10. 1794. do do., 5,3,8. 

There had been a great many sheep killed by dogs which caused the tax. 
After the tax the town paid for sheep killed by dogs. 

The town in 1790 paid £1 6s. out of Dog tax for the Rum drank at the 
raising of a bridge over the kill at the village on the site of Ward's old bridge. 

Names of Places found on Town Record from 1768 to 1777.— Neilytown. 
White Oak Bridge, Barney Roe's Bridge, Walkiil Bridge, John McNeel's 
Mill, Braher's Bridge, Campbell's Bridge, Dwars Kill, Smedis Mill, Hone 
Pot, Campbell Mill, Stone Ford, Tinbrook, Lieutenant Crans' Bridge, Sha- 
wangunk Kill, Snider's Mill, Decker's Mill, King's Bridge, Lackey's Bridge, 
Sharper's Bridge, Ward's Bridge, John Glispie's Mill, Decker's Bridge, 
Walkiil Meeting House, Robert Milligan's Saw Mill, Bigg Pokanisink, 
Deckerson's Mill, St. Andrews Church, the Old Church, Wilemantown, 
Snider's Meeting House, the Fulling Mill. 

The surface of this town is pleasantly diversified with 
hills, rolling- and meadow land ; but contains nothing digni- 
fied by the name of mount or mountain. The meadows are 
extensive and productive, the plough lands warm and fertile, 
and when well prepared still yield good crops of wheat. — 
For varied agriculture the valley along the Walkiil is not 
exceeded by any other lands in the county ; for while it is 
productive in grass, it is equally so in the different kinds of 
grain when judiciously managed. A large class of farmers 
in this town are not only well off in this world's goods, but 
wealthy and increasing at every returning year. Within a 
few years past the agriculture of the town in all its various 
departments, has advanced rapidly. Little attention has as 
yet been bestowed on stock, farther than to ensure the quan- 
tity and quality of milk ; the farmers relying principally on 
the great staples of butter, pork and grains of all kinds. The 
public roads which intersect this town in every direction are 
very numerous, and kept in an excellent state of repair, for 
which there is a large supply of hard material in all direc- 
tions. There is also an abundant supply of good, pure wa- 
ter, furnished by numerous springs, brooks and creeks. The 
Walkiil River, a durable stream, runs through it from south 
to north and furnishes the inhabitants with extensive hy- 
draulic power at many points on its course. This has been 



234 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

long and extensively celebrated for its delicious eels and cat- 
fish ; for the nurture and increase of which the Drowned 
Lands are admirably calculated, abounding - as they do in 
large quantities of rich black mud. The eels are taken in 
various ways, but principally by rude dams of stone thrown 
across the kill, in which is set a rack, at the point where the 
water issues from the dam. At the milling establishments 
these racks are set in the race-ways below the mills. In these 
and other ways, wagon loads are taken in the spring- and 
fall and sold to residents in the vicinity. The eels are a very 
shy fish and run most numerously in dark nights, during or 
shortly after heavy rains, when the water is dirty. 

This town is wholly destitute of limestone and other quar- 
ry for building, and must rely upon the common field-stone 
for the purpose. There is an equal destitution of good tim- 
ber, except in a few localities, which have remained untouch- 
ed for many years, though there is abundance of wood for 
fuel and farming purposes. 

The soil in several places, as in the vicinity of the village 
of Montgomery and St. Andrews, is loam and sand : the re- 
sidue of the town generally gravel and loam, and of good 
depth. 

A range of elevated land, called u Comfort's Hills," di- 
vides this town from Crawford, and the farms on its eastern 
slope are among the best in the town. Through the valley 
which skirts Comfort's Hill runs the Muddy kill, and drains 
off to the Walkill all the surplus waters of the vicinity. — 
The stream lays very low and has no hydraulic power. — 
There is perhaps no town in the county more convenient or 
compactly formed, or which has less land incapable of cultiva- 
tion. This has not any such. There was an old law passed 
forty years since, for the benefit of Orange and Dutchess 
counties, giving power to drain swamps and bog meadows ; 
and the inhabitants of this town for many successive years 
put this act in rigorous operation, till now there is not a pond 
or bog meadow to be drained within all her limits. We 
think the few farmers from England and Dutchess county 
who came into this town some twenty years since, gave an 
impetus to agricultural improvement in various ways, which 
has since spread itself over the town generally, and been 
productive of extensive benefits. 

The soil and locality are well calculated for the production 
of good fruit, especially the apple and the peach. Many of 
the best orchards of winter apples in the county are in this 
town, some of w r hich were planted thirty years since by Mr. 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 235 

Robert Griffith, Mr. John Miller, and Andrew Graham Esq. 
The old orchards set by the early emigrants have been run- 
ning- out for twenty-five years, and are almost wholly gone. 
The natural tree lives about seventy-five years in this climate, 
while the pear will bear fruit one hundred. 

This town lost half her territory by the erection of the 
towns of Crawford and Hamptonburgh and is now of very- 
moderate dimensions, and convenient for town purposes. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT OF MONTGOMERY AND CRAWFORD. 

We shall treat of the early settlement of these towns to- 
gether, as they were originally one, and in consequence of the 
recent erection of the latter, it has no early history of its own, 
distinct from that of the former. This course we judge most, 
natural and sensible, and will be pursued with several others 
which have been recently organized. In all other respects 
they will be considered separately, and as no offence is in- 
tended by the writer, he trusts that no town will consider 
herself slighted by this mode of historical consideration. We 
intend that our paper shall know no other difference between 
the young and the more ancient incorporations. We treat 
of Orange, and the towns alike are all her children in the view 
taken of them. 

We are as particular in giving date to an early settlement 
as our information warrants. In some cases we can do it 
accurately — perhaps to the very year ; in others, not — in 
which latter case it is stated as probabilities may warrant, 
judging from all the facts and circumstances directly and in- 
directly bearing upon the point. In all which instances we 
venture to assure the reader, the error, if any, is in falling 
short of the true date, and not stating it as early as it really 
was. 

In the remarks of early settlement we observe no particu- 
lar chronological order, which doubtless would be the best 
course if warranted by the facts. To a sensible and discrim- 
inating reader, the omission of such an order is a matter of 
little moment, and we hope no one will experience any great 
inconvenience from it in that respect. We advise him to car- 
ry along in his own mind and memory a table of the periods 
of settlement, and thus constituting himself a co-laborer with 
us, he may be really benefitted by our omissions. We wish 
in all kindness to impose some light and agreeable mental 
labor upon the reader to admonish him that he is reading a 
portion of the history of his country ; to be understood, as- 



236 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

lorted and recollected, and not skimming the surface con- 
tents of a novel. 

Coldenham. — The Colden family was among the earliest, 
that located in the town, and by talents, learning and indus- 
try soon grew up to be an object of official favor and regard. 
The confidence of power was not misplaced, and in the early 
settlement of this part of the county, to use a figure, this 
family rose up like some mountain elevation, clad with the 
evergreens of wealth and adorned with the stately trees of 
honorable station, far above the less favored lands around it. 
The results of the Revolution, however, were disastrous in 
the extreme to its ulterior prospects, and they appear in a 
few years to have divested it of all real or ficticious superior- 
ity, and placed it upon a common level with others, the pro- 
duct of republican institutions. This, though fair and equal- 
izing in its character and operation throughout the commu- 
nity at large, may have been judged hard and unexpected in 
this particular case. While we respect and hold in grateful 
remembrance the character of the various members of this 
ancient family, we have no tears to shed over the reforma- 
tion and results of the American Revolution. In relation to 
this family and descendents we feel warranted in saying that 
from Lieutenant Governor Colden to the members of the 
present generation, they were a high-minded and honorable 
race of men. In the most exciting times that preceded the 
revolution, the known honesty of the Lieutenant Governor 
as a man, and his integrity of character as a public officer, 
saved him from all personal violence, though his property 
was sacrificed at the hands of a mob. When quite young, 
we frequently heard the aged citizens and early settlers of 
the town and vicinity speak of Alexander Colden, his son, 
in terms of great regard and approbation. He kept a store 
at this locality at an early period, several years before 1742, 
and the early settlers of the town, and back west to the Sha- 
wangunk mountains, were in the habit of trading there. — 
His third son, Cadwallader Colden, was the first Supervisor 
of the town. The first descendents of the Lieutenant Gover- 
nor held large landed estates in the town, which they sold 
out from time to time ; and we never heard aught of hard 
dealing or oppression on their part, but on the contrary, 
much of that which was of a fair, honest and liberal charac- 
ter. From a personal knowledge of many of their family de- 
scendents, embracing some of three generations, we are 
bound to state in this connection that the humane and gene- 
rous mantle which clad and beautified the early settlers in 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 237 

•disrespect, happily fell upon their descendents, who have 
ivorn it from generation to generation. The family is not 
as numerous in the county as w T e should expect to find 
it at this day, a century and a quarter from its early planting 
and vigorous growth. 

We proceed to notice the settlement of Coldenham. In 
1820 John Johnson procured a patent of land for two thou- 
sand acres at this locality, which, on the day of its date, he 
transferred to Cadwallader Colden. The explanation of this 
sudden transfer, doubtless, was this : — Colden was Surveyor 
General of the|province at the time, and to save appearances, 
the patent was for his private benefit, though taken out in 
the name of his friend, John Johnson. Shortly after this, 
Colden procured another patent to be issued directly to him- 
self for one thousand acres, which lies south of the one to 
Johnson ; and the settlement to be made thereon is declared 
in the patent to be " Coldengham." Why it was so named 
we do not know, probably after some estate or locality with 
which the family had been connected in Scotland. By com- 
mon consent, many years since, it was changed to Colden- 
ham, in acordance with the name of the proprietor. 

At that period the Government would not make large 
grants to one individual, for they had been admonished of 
the folly and iniquity of a contrary course by the extensive, 
and almost unlimited Wawayanda and Minisink patents, 
and the one to Capt. John Evans, which was cancelled for 
its magnitude, uncertainty and want of consideration. 

Connected with this name and locality there is this historical 
curiosity: Coldengham, which was to be on the patent to Col- 
den, in fact, is on the patent to John Johnson, which lies 
both north and south of the turnpike. It was on this patent 
to John Johnson the first settlement was made by Lieutenant 
Governor Cadwallader Colden, then Dr. Colden, and about 
half a mile south of the turnpike, on the farm owned and 
possessed for many years by David Woodruff, and now by 
his son. There he erected a stone house about the year 1728, 
and settled his family, previous to which he had resided in the 
city of New York, in a letter, dated May, 1742, to Mr. Col- 
linson of London, Dr. Colden says : — " Mr. Burnet soon suc- 
ceeding him (Governor Hunter) as the Governor, I likewise, 
gained his friendship. My family being considerably in- 
creased I left the city at the time Mr. Burnit was removed 
from the government, etc." According to the history of the 
j colony, Governor Burnit was removed and left the Govern- 

| ment in 1728, which fixes the date of the first settlement of 

i 



238 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

Coldenham. On the farm and in the vicinity of the stone house 
is the family burying ground. This old house was demol- 
ished last year by Mr. Woodruff, after having withstood time 
and the ^elements one hundred and eighteen years, to give 
place to a pretty, new, wood farm house. This old mansion 
was long known as the " Coldenham Academy." Before the 
war, the members of the family were high in office, and held 
military appointments, and the Academy was a military 
school, for their benefit and that of the Royal Government. 
This, we presume, was after the erection of the present Col- 
denham stone mansion on the turnpike. When this was 
erected we do not know, but believe the Lieutenant Governor 
continued to reside there from the time of its erection till the 
year 1760, when, on the death of Governor Delancy, he, be- 
ing the eldest of the Governor's council, became ex officio, 
the acting Lieutenant Governor of the province ; after which 
time he resided principally in the city of New York and on 
Long Island. We pursue this early settlement no farther 
than to remark that it was extensive during the early history 
of the town — very few single families in the State did more — 
and may be described as follows : This family built the old 
stone academy house, and settled the farm attached to it ; — 
the, present Coldenham stone house on the turnpike, at two 
several periods, and cleared up the farm attached to it; — the 
long', low house, east of the stone house, at the foot of the 
hill ; — the house known as Thomas Coldeirs mansion, north 
of the turnpike, now owned and occupied by Cadwallader C. 
Colden, and farm attached thereto ; — the two dwellings 
oast of the one last named, owned and possessed by Mr. Da- 
vid Colden, and farm attached ; — the dwelling on the hill 
south of the turnpike, now owned and possessed by Mr. 
John Scott, and farm attached. 

There Avere other buildings erected on clearings remote 
from the public highway at the south, which we shall not 
more particularly mention. They erected also a grist mill 
on the patent, which was located just north of the present 
dwelling, at the foot of the hill, Avest of the Coldenham stone 
house. This mill was worn out half a century since, and 
the stream having failed by clearing up the country as many 
other small runs of water have, the location was not worth 
improving by a new one. Some of these erections were made 
as earl}'' as 1728, and all previous to 1800. 

In the letter above referred to, Dr. Colden remarks to his 
friend as follows : — 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 239 

-• My family being considerably increased, I left the city at the time Mr. 
Burnet was removed from the government, and settled there in the county 
where I now live, (1742) as being less expensive. I have been able to live 
above want, to keep free from debt, so as not to suffer a labouring man, 
to go from my home without his wages; and I. hope to be able to put my 
children in a way to provide for themselves by their own industry, which 
often proves more advantageous to them, than leaving such estates as that 
they can hope to live without thought or care. My eldest son has for some 
years kept what we call a store in this part of the country. 1 suppose you 
know what kind of mercantile business it is, by your general knowledge of 
America. My eldest daughter is married — as to fortune, beyond what I 
could expect in regard to my own — to one of the late Mr. Delancey's sons. 
I doubt not you have heard of his father; he being one of the most noted 
merchants in America. My younger children give me reasonable hopes of 
doing well in the world as they grow up by their industry and virtue. 
* ******* 

" My removing to the country, I believe, has been of no disadvantage to 
my children, as it has freed them from many temptations to vice, to which 
youth is exposed in the city. My chief pleasure, like yours, is in my own 
family with my wife and children, and I wish I could live so as never to be 
from them. 1 have always had avievv to be useful to my country, (though 
I have had my designs that way grossly misinterpreted) and I have taken 
most pleasure in speculation for that end. I cannot say how far T have 
succeeded; but none now deny the benefit of the trade at Oswego, in the 
framing of which scheme, and reducing it to practice, I had a considerable 
share. 1 have made a small spot of the world, which, when I first entered 
upon it, was the habitation only of wolves and bears and other wild animals, 
now no unfit habitation for a civilized family ; so that I, without vanity, 
take the comfort of not having been entirely useless in my generation." 

Cadwallader Golden, the Lieutenant Governor, was a son 
of the Rev. Alexander Golden, minister of Dunsie in the 
Merse, Scotland. His parents and ancestors, to a remote de- 
gree, were all Scotch, but he himself was born in Ireland on 
the 7th of February, 1687, while his mother was oh a visit, 
intended to be very temporary at the time, to some friends on 
that Island. 

He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, his fa- 
ther at the time intending - him for the church, and his studies 
directed accordingly- His father was a minister of the Church 
of Scotland, and from his interest with many of the nobility, 
he anticipated an easy preferment for his son. After he had 
gone through with his studies at the University, his inclina- 
tioHS were averse to entering into orders in the church, and 
lie applied himself to the study of Physic. He studied a 
course of anatomy with Dr. Erskine, and of chemistry with 
Dr. Wilson — both distinguished in their profession at Lon- 
don. From the limited means of his father, exhausted by 
his education, he could not make such appearance as was 
expected of a young physician in the London market, and 



240 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

he concluded to emigrate to America. This was the true 
reason of li is coming to this country. 

His mother had a sister residing in Philadelphia, a widow 
who was wealthy and had no children, and tin's was an ad- 
ditional motive for trying his fortune here, and the reason for 
going to Philadelphia. He arrived at Philadelphia in 1710, 
and having a taste for botany, soon gave his attention to the 
plants of the country, as well as to his profession. In 1715, 
he returned to London, and held interesting conversations 
with Dr. Halley and other celebrated mathematicians, him- 
self having a taste for the exact sciences. He proceeded to 
Scotland, where he was previously engaged, and on the 11th 
of November in that year married Alice Christie, daughter 
of a clergyman at Kelso, and the next year, 1716, returned 
to Philadelphia, and fixed himself there permanently with a 
view to medical practice. In the year 1718, he had a curi- 
osity to see the city of New York, and accordingly visited the 
place. At this time he had no intention of changing his re- 
sidence ; but while there, having made the acquaintance of 
General Hunter, then Governor of the colony, who was fa- 
vorably impressed by his interviews with Mr. Colden, in a 
short time thereafter gave him an invitation to come and re- 
side in New York. This invitation was accompanied with 
the promise of the office of Surveyor General of the province 
of New Yoik. That office was one of profit as well as of 
honor, and Mr. Colden accepted the proffered kindness and 
removed to the city. Hunter remained in the government 
but about two years, and was succeeded by Governor Burnit, 
whose friendship Mr. Colden gained, and was recommended 
by him to be one of the King's council for the province which 
he accepted in 1722. This latter office he held for many 
years and until appointed Lieutenant Governor in 1761. — 
The former lie held still in 1742, but how much later weaie 
not informed. 

As the period from 1760 to 1775 was a critical one for Mr. 
Colden, and of great interest in a political point of view to 
the colony of New York and country generally ; and as Mr. 
Colden was a citizen of this town and county, and Acting 
Governor several times during that period, we will enicr 
upon a little historical detail. 

Governor De Lancey died suddenly July 30, 1760, and 
Mr. Colden assumed the government as president of the 
council, and received the appointment of Lieutenant Gover- 
nor in August, 1761. He was superseded by General Robert 
Monckion oa the 26th of October, 1761 : but this gentleman 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 241 

being placed at the head of an expedition against Martinique, 
on the 15th of November left the government of the province 
to Mr. Colden, under an agreement for an equal division of 
the salary and perquisites. 

In 1765 the colony, and especially the city of New York 
were in great commotion in consequence of the passage of 
the stamp act. Mr. Colden took the oath to execute the act, 
and it brought him into great odium with the inhabitants of 
the city. His effigy was carried through the streets and hung, 
his carriage burnt ; but his advanced age and known probity 
of character as a private citizen and public officer, saved him 
from any personal violence. When the stamps were received 
from England, he placed them for safety in Fort George, and 
strengthened its defences. This, at the time, was thought 
injudicious ; as it distrusted the people and wore a threaten- 
ing aspect, and the popular ill-will became increased against 
him. Upon advisement lie gave up the stamps to the au- 
thorities of the city, who became responsible to the. govern- 
ment at home for their value, and promised not to execute 
the act, but leave it to his successor, who was expected to 
arrive every day. 

Gov. Moore came, being appointed in 1765, and, by the ad- 
vice of his counsel, he did not execute the law. He died in 
1769, and the government again devolved upon Lieutenant. 
Governor Colden for the third time. He continued to act 
till 1770, when he was superseded by John Lord Dunmore, 
who governed till 1771, when William Tryon, the last of the 
regal Governors, was appointed, and governed till expelled 
by the force of the principles which produced, and finally 
most gloriously achieved, the American Revolution. 

The character of Mr. Colden as a statesman and politician, 
is found in his writings and correspondence Avith the ministry 
of Great Britain, at the critical times of which we have been 
speaking, and when he administered the colonial govern- 
ment. In opposition to the views of his masters at home, he 
is said to have predicted the certain consequences of the mea- 
sures they were pursuing against the country. But while he 
condemned those, he did not approve of the course of the 
opposite party. Like many other great and good men of 
his day, he shrank from the idea of an independent govern- 
ment ; not that it could not be achieved, but that it would 
not be maintained. In this opinion he was in error, and is 
proved to have been so by the experience of more than half 
a century. Mr. Colden, like all men high in office, had his 
enemies, but all admitted the purity of his motives, and the 

p 



242 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

honesty and integrity of his character. He died at Spring 
Hill^is country seat near Flushing, in Queens county, 
Long Island, on the 20th of September, 1776, aged 88 years. 
He was buried in a private cemetery on a farm attached to 
Spring Hill. Alice Christie, his wife, was born January 
6, 1690, and died at Fort George, in the city of New York, 
in March, 1762. 

They had five sons and five daughters, who are particu- 
ly mentioned in a letter of Cadwallader Colden, the third 
son, which we place before the reader, as containing the 
family record, and for the good sense, kind feeling and plea- 
sant humor which run throughout the epistle. We com- 
mend it as a choice sample of familiar and friendly corres- 
pondence which too generally assumes a formality and stiff- 
ness which belong to essay writing. 

To do justice to this gentleman, there is another point of 
view in which he must be presented to the reader ; — for he 
was eminently a literary man, considering the time and cir- 
cumstances in which he lived. To estimate the scientific 
and literary character of Mr. Colden, we must bave respect 
to the peculiar circumstances in which we find him. When 
lie came to this country and located in Philadelphia, he was 
but about 22 years of age — literature unknown, and its influ- 
ence unfelt — except in few places and with a very limited 
number of individuals. Her votaries were few indeed, and 
the means of acquiring knowledge, difficult and restricted. — 
Unless an individual had an ardent thirst, or new born desire 
to obtain it— which the condition of tilings was well calcu- 
lated to repress — he would, most probably, have struggled on 
in obscurity and slaked his ambition in blighted hopes. In 
addition to this, it must be recollected that Mr. Colden was 
almost all his life occupied in the momentous and diversified 
affairs of high official station, pursuing a laborious profession 
and settling a patent of new and wild land ; and yet we find 
him, by versatility and force of genius, with acquirements 
sufficient to stand beside and bear comparison with the learn- 
ed scholars of Europe. Besides possessing genius he must 
have been wonderfully industrious, seizing and availing him- 
self of every moment of leisure time. His circle of practice 
is said to have been respectable, and his professional services 
performed with a sagacious judgment and great benevolence 
of heavt. He was a man of intelligent observation, under- 
stood and drew knowledge from all he saw. His character 
bore an inflexible stamp, and his public duties were performed 
•with great purity of motive. In private life he was highly 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 243 

esteemed for his politeness, intelligence and general urbanity 
of manner. He was an example of conjugal and parental 
affection. " In person Lieutenant Governor Colden was 
rather below the middle stature and of a dignified aspect : of 
a strong conformation of body and a vigorous constitution." 

His first literary production was the "History of the Five 
Indian Nations depending on the Province of New York, in 
America." 

The work was dedicated to his patron and friend, Governor 
Burnit, and printed by Bradford in New York, 1727. He 
continued the Indian History, and in 1747 published a new 
edition, enlarged and improved. It made its appearance in 
London the same year, and the publisher there, by the name 
of Osborne, was guilty of the mean and cringing trick of 
changing the dedication from Burnit to General Oglethorpe, 
and of adding chapters of crude accounts of other Indian 
tribes and nations. A third edition was published in London 
in 1755. The truthfulness and accuracy of this work have 
never been questioned. The information contained in it is 
curious and valuable. 

Mr. Colden had scarcely landed in Philadelphia before he- 
began to inspect and examine the plants of the country ; and 
when removed to Coldenham, and the works of Linnaeus 
met his view — being then recently published — he gave-them 
a thorough reading, and devoted much of his time to the 
botany in bis vicinity. Having collected with great care the 
plants about Coldenham, he arranged and drew up his little 
botanical work of some twenty or thirty pages, containing a 
catalogue of 140 plants ; and which Governor Seward, in his 
celebrated introduction to the Geological Survey of the State, 
magnified into two folio volumes. This work was sent to a 
friend in England, who forwarded it to Linnaeus at Upsal in 
Sweden, who, out of respect and admiration of the work and 
author, had it published in Latin and inserted in the Acta 
Upsalinsia for 1743. This catalogue was increased to 257 
plants. Linnaeus honored Mr. Colden with a genus and 
called it "Coldcnia." The name of this work, certainly the 
first written in the country, was — " Planta Coldenhamice in 
Provinced Nove-Borancenri spontanea crescentes quas ad mcth- 
odum Linncei Sexualem." 

The taste of Dr. Colden seems to have been inherited by 
his daughter, Miss Jane Colden, who was the first botanist 
of her sex in this country ; and as the Doctor thought the la- 
dies well capacitated for the study, we emote for their benefit 
a paragraph or two : 



244 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

" Botany is an amusement which may be made agreeable to the ladie«, 
who are often at a loss to fill up iheir time. Their natural curiosity and the 
pleasure they take in the beauty and variety of dress, seem to fit them for 
it, etc. 

" I have a daughter, who has an inclination to reading and a curiosity for 
Natural Philosophy or Natural History and a sufficient curiosity for attain- 
ing a competent knowledge. I took the pains to explain Linnasus' system, 
and to put it into an English form for her use, by freeing it from technical 
terms, which was easily done, by using two or three words in the place of 
one. She is now grown very fond of the study, and has made such a pro- 
gress in it as, f believe, would please you, if you saw her performance. — 
Though she could not have been persuaded to learn the terms at first, she 
now undeistands, in some degree, Linnaeus's characters — notwithstanding 
6he does not understand Latin. She has already a pretty large volume in 
writing of the description of plants. She has shewn a method of taking the 
impression of the leaves on paper with printer's ink, by a simple kind of 
rolling press, which is of use in distinguishing the species. No description, 
in words alone, can give so clear an idea, as when assisted with a picture. 
She has the impression of three hundred plants in the manner you '11 see by 
the samples. That you may have some conception of her performance, and 
her manner of describing, I propose to inclose some samples in her own 
writing, some of which 1 think are new genera." 

His medical works were of a high character and much es- 
teemed ; and his talents of observation contributed to mak(? 
them truthful. In 1742 the city was visited with the yellow 
fever, and Dr. Colden drew up an account of the disease, in 
which he pointed out the local circumstances which would 
increase its spread and malignity, and recommended their 
treatment and removal. He received the public thanks of 
the corporation on this subject : he held a long correspon- 
dence with Dr. John Mitchell, F. Pt. S. concerning (he same 
disease, which had appeared in Virginia. This correspon- 
dence is said to have been able and worth the attention of 
the medical student. He published a " Treatise on the cure 
of Cancer;" — a paper on the " Virtues of the Great Water 
Dock ;" — remarks on the " Efficacy of Tar Water," then a 
fashionable article of the materia medica. He also published 
u Observations on the Climate and Diseases of New York." 
In hostility to the opinions of several writers, he maintained 
that an amelioration in temperature had taken place in a 
regular ratio with settlement and improvements. He also 
wrote on the " Small Pox," and enforced the cooling regi- 
men in that and other febrile disorders. 

But his great work was " A Disscitation on the First 
Principles in Physics, and on iEther and Gravitation," pub- 
lished in New York in 1745. This was enlarged and pub- 
lished in London in 1751, and excited the attention of Euro- 
pean philosophers ; and he was thought to have proceeded 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 345 

much farther toward an explanation of the phenomena of 
gravitation and the motion of the planets than any other 
physical writer. 

He also wrote an " Introduction to the Doctrine of Flux- 
ions." 

But we close further enumeration to say that his corres- 
pondence with the learned men of his day was extensive. — 
It was maintained with Linnaeus, Gronovius of Leyden, Drs. 
Porterfield and Whytte of Edinburgh, Dr. Fothergill, Peter 
Collinson, F. R. S., and the Earl of Macclefield : — in Amer- 
ica, with John Bartram, Dr. Douglas, James Alexander, Dr. 
John Mitchell, President Samuel Johnson, Dr. Gardner, Dr. 
John Baid and Dr. Franklin. " I hope," says Dr. Franklin 
in a ms. letter, October, 1753, to Mr. Colden, " to find time 
to finish my hypothesis of thunder and lightning, which I 
shall immediately communicate to you." These two great 
men, last named, were among the first members of the 
American Philosophical Society, established in March, 1743. 

A COPr OF A LETTER WRITTEN BY CADWALLADER COLDEN, 

of Coldenham, to a cousin in Scotland ; giving a particular account of 
the family of his father, Lieutenant Governor Colden, in all its branches. 
(Written in 1796 and never before published.) 

Dear Sir : — Although I am now near seventy-four years of age, this is the 
first occasion I have had to address a relative in the style of a cousin, which 
I now do in answer to your favor of January last. I have wished much for 
some information respecting the relatives of my father's family in Scotland, 
an inquiry that I was deficient in making of my father and mother before 
their death. I wished you had mentioned your father's name, and whether 
my father had any more brothers. I think I have heard him mention two, 
viz: Andrew and James. I know that my father was son to Alexander 
Colden, a minister in the Church of Scotland — that he was regularly educa- 
ted and took what is called a tour of Europe — that he was then invited to 
America by an aunt, a sister of his fathers's, and lived with her six years in 
Philadelphia, practising physic. After this he returned to Scotland, and mar- 
ried my mother, a well educated lady, by the name of Chrystie, to whom he 
had been pre-engaged. This being in the year 1715, in the time of the 
troubles, lie made but a short stay, and leturned with my mother to Phila- 
delphia, where he remained but a few years — being induced to go to New 
York by an offer made to him of an office of honor and profit — that of Sur- 
veyor General. As he found the living in the city to be too expensive for 
a growing family, he settled on a large tract of land of which he obtained a 
grant, about 70 miles from New York, in what was called the Highlands.— 
Here have 1 lived since 1 was seven years old. My father being much from 
home on public business, I was left almost entirely to my mother for instruc- 
tion and education, (there being no such thing as a school) who was as ca- 
pable as most women, giving the brightest example of virtue and economy. 
In the year 1760 my father was called on to take upon him the administra- 
tion of government, by the death of the Lieutenant Governoi.and soon after 
was called upon to fill that office, where he continued till his death in 1776. 



246 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 



It was unfortunate for him and his family, that, during his administration, 
the peace of the country was broken upon by two ill-timed acts of Parlia- 
ment, viz : the stamp act, and the tea act. Theduty of his office led him to 
support these acts, which created him many enemies ; but his private char- 
acter was unimpeachedand highly respected, though he suffered much insult 
and loss of property, as standing foremost in the King's government. Yet 
he was the only one that government did not recompense for his loyalty: 
neither have his family been recompensed for theiKsuffering during the Amer- 
ican war, while others, less deserving, have recovered more than they lost. 
My father removed with his family to the city of New York, leaving me in 
possession of his estate here. My mother died in the government house of 
New York in 1762, as also my youngest maiden sister Katy. My eldest 
brother Alexander was Postmaster of New York, and succeeded my father 
in the Surveyor General's office. He died in 1775, leaving four daughters 
and two sons. His eldest married Archibald Hamilton, formerly a captain 
in the British service : his wife died during the American war, leaving him 
a son and two daughters, with whom he went to England after the war. 
His son, I am informed, is in the British army, now in the West Indies, a 
promising young man. By a letter I received a few days ago from his daugh- 
tbrs, Jane and Alice, dated Edinburgh, January, 1796, I learn that their fa- 
ther died there on the 1st of June, and they wish me to transmit to them a 
small patrimony arising from my father's estate. My brother Alexander's 
second daughter married John Antill, who, going in the British service in 
time of war, was, in peace, obliged to leave the country, and is now settled 
in Canada, where he lost his wife, and has since married her youngest sister. 
His first wife left him three children. My brother's third daughter married 
Capt. Anthony Farrington, who is raised to be full Colonel of the Artillery 
and commands at Black Heath, London. They have several promising 
children. My brother's eldest son, Richard, married a Scotch lady at the 
Isle of Man. He brought her to this country and soon after died, leaving 
two sons with his widow. She returned to Scotland, where she left them 
for education, named Alexander and Cadwallader. They have come to this 
country very well qualified for any business, but, to the regret of their moth- 
er, who seemed ambitious to have them shine in Congress, neither seemed 
inclined to any learned profession. The elder son, who is entitled to a very 
pretty estate as heir-at-law of my brother, inclines to the sea, and has al- 
ready gone three voyages to London as Captain, and has now a ship of his 
>wn, and has gone to the West Indies. The other son is in the — line. 
My brother's second son was lost at sea. My youngest brother David lived 
with my father till his death, and was his private secretary. My father's 
dying before the confiscation law took place was rather fortunate for his 
family, otherwise all would have gone; but our rulers fell upon poor David, 
and banished him from the country. He went to Europe to seek compen- 
sation, and soon died, leaving a widow, four daughters and a son, whom, 
after his death, I took under my roof. The mother and eldest daughter soon 
nfter died. The children have had a small compensation allowed them, but 
not one-fourth of what they lost. I have the happiness to see two of his 
daughters well-married, and the other in a fair way for it. The son is mar- 
ried to our Bishop's daughter, and is likely to become one of our first law- 
yers: he is also a Cadwallader. My eldest sister Elizabeth married very 
voung, in the first family then in New York, viz: the DeLancey, and soon 
bucame the mother of a tine family of sons and daughters ; and, as a wife and 
mother, was held in high esteemby all her acquaintance, though she was 
not rery happy in ;i husband. He died many years ago, not much regretted. 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 247 

leaving her the mother of six sons and five daughters. She died since the 
war, leaving a numerous train of children and grand-children. Her daughters, 
like herself, are well esteemed as the first of women and ornaments of their 
sex. This shows how virtues may be inherited as well as fortunes; for 
their mother was an example worthy of imitation. My second sister, Jane, 
had the title of old maid before she married Dr. Farquhar, an old widower, 
but a very worthy good Scotchman. She had one child, but both mother 
and child soon died. My third sister, Alice, being also in the line of old 
maids, married another old widower, of the name of Willitt, and he also out- 
lived her: but she left him three children — a son and two daughters. The 
son, Gilbert Colden Willitt, married the daughter of a rich old Quaker, a 
very valuable man, and he bids fair of being one of the best fortunes 
among us. The oldest daughter married young and soon died, leaving her 
fortune to her husband. The youngest daughter, Anna, married my son 
Thomas, who is happy in having a wife who inherits all the properties of 
her and his mother — excepting in having children — for they have none. My 
fourth sister died a maid, and 1 had also a brother who died a bachelor. — 
Thus have I gone through with all the different branches of my father's 
family, and now to myself and flock. I am the second, or rather, the third, 
son, for there was one born before me, (David) who died an infant. As I 
said before, I have lived in this woody country from seven years of age, 
always more fond of working in the field than of literature. My father 
gave me live hundred acres of woodland, adjoining his farm ; on which I 
felled the first tree, and took out the first stub with my own hands. It was 
then a perfect wilderness through which one could not see the sunshine.- — 
After clearing a little land, commencing a barn and house, I thought it was 
proper to look for a housekeeper ; and, before my house was finished, I had 
got one in the neighborhood, for I could not spare time to go far, and if T 
had I should not have fared better — she making as good a wife as if she had 
been brought up by my own mother. She is of the name of Ellison, an 
English family, the most respectable then in this neighborhood, and also 
wealthy. We have now lived together above fifty years, and, I believe, 
no fifty years were spent happier by any one pair. While 1 am writing, 
she is as busy at her needle as if just beginning the world and looks almost 
as young, although the mother of twelve children — six only of whom are 
living — three dying infants and three grown up. My eldest, Cadwallader, 
being twice married, has a house full of children, six sons and a daughter. 
He has been rather unfortunate, and finds it difficult to maintain his family 
on the profits of a farm. My son Thomas, whom I mentioned before, lives 
on a beautiful farm adjoining mine, and makes as good a husbandman aa he 
does a husband. He was a Captain in the British service, and enjoys his 
half pay. The fourth son, Alexander, has a farm adjoining mine, and being 
a bachelor, still lives at home. My youngest son, David, has part of rnv 
own farm, and lives in a small house just by. He married a respectable 
farmer's daughter : they have two children and Jive very happily together. 
Our eldest daughter, Alice, married young, not much to our satisfaction. 
Both she and her husband, a Dr. Antill, died soon after the commencement 
of the American war, leaving nothing behind them but two dear little infants, 
both girls, whom we took to our own bosom, (one of them was but six week.s 
old) and they knew no other father and mother. One of them is married to 
a clergyman and has made us great-grand parents. Her sister is a fine, 
handsome girl of about twenty years of age. Our second daughter, Jane, i.« 
too good to part with ; neither can she bear the thought of leaving us, so 
that 1 am in hopes we shall have her company and affection as long as we 



248 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

live. Our youngest daughter, Margaret, has been twice married, and had 
three children by her first husband, who was of a worthy character, but be- 
came a cripple some years ere he died. With her second connexion we were 
not so well pleased, but as he makes her a kind husband we have become re- 
conciled : they also live adjoining on a part of my estate. Thus, my cousin, 
have I complied with your request in giving you a minute and particular 
account of your uncle's family, and the different branches, though I shall be 
glad to hear from you again* and hope you will give me the same satisfac- 
tion in being particular in the statement of your family and connections. In- 
form me whether you are a widower or bachelor — for a married man you 
cannot be — as you do not mention a wife or children. I have told you my 
age; let me know yours, and give me a list of the descendents of my grand- 
father, the worthy old clergyman, whom I hear spoken so highly of by 
many Scotchmen and with the highest veneration. Remember me and my 
family to them all. Your Affectionate Cousin, 

Cadwallader Colden. 

Village of Montgomery and Vicinity. — In 1738, Henry 
Crist, Stevanus Crist and Matthias Miltzpatch purchased of 
William Sharpus of the city of New York, (a patentee of the 
ten thousand acre tract) five hundred and forty-two acres. — 
This land lies on the north side of the Walkill, opposite to 
the present village of Montgomery and a little back of the 
stream. The Lot known as the Crist Mill Lot, of two hun- 
dred acres, was purchased before. This land is among the 
best in quality in the town. The proprietors divided the 
purchase soon after and instantly began to clear and culti- 
vate. These individuals were from Germany, and here laid 
the foundation of a very extensive improvement. Their 
family descendents are among the most numerous and res- 
pectable in the town. The early Dutch and German settlers 
were strong, large and athletic, frugal and industrious, and 
very soon became possessed of competence and wealth. — 
Some of these lands remain in the possession of descendents 
of the original purchasers. These, with other emigrants, in 
a few years covered the valley of the Walkill. As before re- 
marked, the Dutch, Germans and Huguenots were the early 
settlers along the valley; and they confined themselves 
chiefly to the north and west of the stream, from which they 
disseminated farther and farther to the west, till they crossed 
what is called Comfort's Hills and entered the present town 
of Crawford. They scarcely ventured to locate out of sight 
of the Walkill or occupy any of the high or hilly land on 
either side, till the low lands were exhausted and it became 
a matter of necessity. 

There were three old settlers by the name of Crist. One 
was Henry, who had but one son, Jacob, the father of Wil- 
liam, Jacob and Henry. William died without issue ; Jacob 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 249 

was drowned in the Hudson, going to or returning from the 
city of New York, where he had been to get his wedding- 
clothes ; and thus Henry Crist, deceased, of the last genera- 
tion, heired all the property with one half of the mill lot. 

Another was named Stevanus, the father of Christian, Jon- 
athan, Simeon and David. The lands possessed by Stevanus 
are now owned by Joseph V. Whalen, Esq., who took them 
by devise from his father, Dr. Joseph Whalen, deceased. 

The third was Crist, the father of Martinas and Wil- 
liam Crist of the last generation. His lands are now owned 
by Mr. William P. Decker. 

Henry Crist, the first purchaser, built at the foot of the 
hill, east of the Dutch Church and north of the turnpike, 
where there used to be an old orchard recollected by some of 
this generation. His son Jacob, built on the hill opposite 
the village of Montgomery at the mill, where his son Henry 
resided the whole of his life. The site is now occupied by 
the new and beautiful residence of Daniel W. Waring, Esq. 
We believe this Jacob Crist built what is commonly called 
Crist's Mill, at the village, but at what time we are unable 
to state. 

Stevanus Crist built his first house about half way from 
the end of the bridge to the present residence of Joseph V. 
Whalen, Esq. Here the town meetings at the first organi- 
zation of the town used to be held ; and there the turnpike 
gate, now removed west and called Hasbrouck's gate, first 
stood at the completion of the road. 

The third, by the name of ■ Crist, built on the farm 

now owned, as above stated, by Wm. P. Decker. 

James Ward owned two hundred acres, the present site of 
the village of Montgomery. We do not know the date of 
the purchase or when he located. He built the first Log 
Mill at the place, as early as the organization of the town in 
1768, the site of which is now occupied by the Messrs. Lu- 
quer's. The bank there was very high and steep, and the 
mill being at the water's edge was difficult to approach. The 
grain bags were either thrown down from the bank into the 
mill door and up again, or let down and up by a rude swing 
or tackle. This mill was built before Crist's, on the oppo- 
site side of the stream ; for, though the date of the erection 
of neither of them is accurately known, yet, when the water 
is low and the bed of the stream exposed, there is still to be 
seen a row of stones reaching down from the opposite bank 
towards Ward's Mill, calculated to throw the force of the 
water in that direction in time of drought, which would not 



250 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

have been permitted if Crist's Mill had then been built. 

There is an old eel wear below these mills, extending from 
side to side of the stream in an angling- direction down it till 
the sides meet in the centre, which was there at the settle- 
ment of the town, now owned by the family of Rockefellers, 
the title to which is derived from the Indians. At that time 
there was a tribeof Indians residing on the west side of the 
kill and in the immediate vicinity of the Crist purchase, 
which remained there till about the time of the old French 
war in 1755-6. Mr. Henry Crist, recently dead, remembered 
to have seen some of them when a small boy. 

Mr. Ward, to enable the resident settlers on the west side 
of the kill to come to his mill at all seasons of the year, built 
a rude bridge over the stream. This was the first bridge in 
all this vicinity. It was called Ward's Bridge, and, as the 
village grew up, it gave name to the place. This bridge 
was rebuilt by the town in 1777, and again in 1790, when 
the town paid ,£1, 6s. out of the dog tax for the rum drank 
at the raising, i Its place is now occupied by- the turnpike 
bridge. 

Among other early residents of the village we name James 
Ward, John McFaught, David Crist, John McKinstrey, 
Matthew Hunter, Samuel Smith, Arthur Parks, Oolis Shulp. 
\ John McGarrow, George Everson and Mahan Wigton. Mr. 
Parks and McGarrow kept store on the corner where old Mr. 
-Smedas lived, now, the Messrs. Luqner. Ward lived in a 
log cabin, near the end of the bridge, the site of which is now 
occupied by the dwelling of Mr. Abraham Colwell. Smith's 
house was on the lot now occupied by Mr. Abner Bookstaver : 
Parks 1 , where Mr. John L'Homedieu lives ; arid Oolis Shulp. 
in the hollow on the turnpike, east of Mr. Parks. Shulp 
first located at the Miller Settlement, hereinafter mentioned, 
among the Lutherans, but so«i removed here. He was the 
father of lions Shulp, an old revolutionary soldier still living 
in the town, about 85 years old — respected by all who know 
him as an honest man and good soldier, but soon to enter a 
mortal combat in which he will lose his life. 

In 1727, there was a settlement made by Johannes Miller 
on the bank of the Walkili, about two miles south of the 
village of Montgomery. He was a German and came to the 
country in the beginning of the eighteenth century. After 
leaving New York he resided in Ulster County — at the time 
the great depot of German emigrants — and in a few years re- 
moved to this location and planted himself upon the Hill, 
now the residence of Mr. Elinor Miller, one of his descend- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 251 

.ents. All of this generation recollect the old square stone 
house as it stood on the crown of the hill like some fortified 
baronial castle of the olden time, with two doors in front to 
enter adjoining rooms, and windows like port holes. This 
individual was the grandfather of Johannes Miller, deceased ; 
but as we shall take a more extended notice of him and his 
family hereafter, we discontinue our observations for the 
present. 

This settlement extended from the Walkill down towards 
the village of Wardsbridge, and was principally composed of 
Lutherans from Germany, who came after Mr. Miller, and 
settled on the 5,000 acre patent, granted in 1722, and called 
Germantown. The owners calculated to found at least a 
city, about on the farm of Johannes Miller, deceased, on the 
road leading- from Montgomery to Goshen ; and, certainly, 
there was no better or prettier location for it in the town. — 
The land was of the kind to captivate the heart and affec- 
tions of a Dutchman, just from the low-lying glades of Hol- 
land. In furtherance of the plan, like the Palatines of New- 
burgh, they laid out a street eight rods wide, directly east 
and west, extending from the Walkill through the patent, 
to the farm of Mr. Gideon Pelton in Knox's patent, and called 
it the Palatine Road. Upon the sides of this road the settlers 
erected their log cabins and made their clearings. The road 
that leads down to the farms of Messrs. Row and Ackerman 
from the main road, between the residences of Mr. John 
Miller and Mr. Miller Hunter, (recently Johannes Miller) is 
a part of this ancient highway. All the rest of it is cultivated 
land, being long since abandoned as a public road. They 
also built a log church and set. apart a lot for a burying 
ground, which were nearly in front of the residence of Jo- 
hannes Miller, deceased, on the east side of the highway. — 
The church was blown down in a gale of wind before the 
Revolution and never rebuilt. In the yard are many graves, 
though it has been discontinued as a public burying ground 
for half a century ; during which time a few graves have 
been opened by the descendents of the old Lutherans, who 
formerly belonged to the congregation and worshipped in the 
ancient log church. We have personally examined the 
yard and but one stone was found with any inscription what- 
ever, which ran thus : — " Born in 1686, died in 1759. A. 
M. M." 

The settlement was not numerous at this particular loca- 
tion, at any time, and, by deaths and removals, was soon 
broken up and discontinued — the lands falling into the pos- 



252 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

•ession of the Miller family. The Lutherans, however, who 
came and settled in this part of the town, united with their 
Christian brethren, and assisted to keep up the church estab- 
lishment as long as they conveniently could ; but when the 
church blew down, other and more convenient places of wor- 
ship had been built and organized, and the church dwindled 
to nothing. Emigration soon ceased to aid the settlement, 
and other forms of worship were beginning to be more preva- 
lent in the town. The last minister of the congregation was 
De Groff, from New Jersey. 

Among the Lutherans who belonged to this congregation 
was Mr. Dederick Shafer, whose descendents are still nume- 
rous in this and the town of Crawford. This old gentleman, 
before his death, manifested a laudable desire to protect and 
perpetuate the buried ushes of his German brethren, and en- 
joined it on his heirs, as a dying request in his will, to keep 
up and preserve this yard forever. So far, his children have 
religiously observed, in the most filial manner, the dying in- 
junctions of this truly pious, feeling and venerable patriarch. 
In the ordinary course of nature their ashes ought to have 
rested and slept the sleep of death in the vallies and on the 
hill tops of Germany ; but, since it was ordered otherwise, 
in the great economy of settlement and population of the 
world, we will revere their memory and preserve without 
molestation their consecrated remains, as they lie entombed 
on the beautiful banks of the Walkill, far, far away from the 
land of their fathers. 

Mr. Shafer was a tanner, and we think the first who set 
up a yard for that purpose in this part of the town. The 
place where he settled and conducted his trade, was just 
south and east of where the turnpike crosses Comfort's Hill, 
on a fine, durable stream that comes foaming and tumbling 
down through a gorge in the hill, from the flats beyond, pas- 
sing in its rapid and headlong descent the old residence of 
Mr. Jonathan Miller, deceased, now, that of his son, Wick- 
ham Miller. Daniel Shafer, of the last generation, a son of 
Frederick, established a new yard, nearer the kill and on the 
fiat below, where the business is still conducted. It was a 
fortunate circumstance for the early settlers, that many of 
them were brought up to trades of the most useful and ne- 
cessitous character, that they might exercise them in their 
new locations for their own benefit and that of others. We, 
of this generation, know nothing of the value of such trades, 
at such a time, nor can we appreciate it. 

The names of some of these Lutherans were, Oolis Shulp, 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 253 

Hanse Yerry Smith, Jacob Rickey, Jacob Pitts, Matthew 

Newkirk, Dederick Shafer, and Filmoie. Some of the 

land in this vicinity and on the opposite side of the Walkill, 
once owned by Johannes Miller, deceased, is subject to a 
rent of ten bushels of wheat and a few fowls per annum for 
one hundred acres ; but the claim has gone into disuse, the 
rent not having been demanded in many years by the owners 
entitled to it. 

We may as well mention the fact here as any where in our 
paper, that many of the Hessians who were brought out by 
the English — 16,000 of whom were hired of the German 
Princes to fight her battles — settled in this town. Before 
taken prisoners, as many of them were, they were made to 
believe that the Americans were cannibals, and, if taken, 
would be eaten up by them. There was policy in inculca- 
ting this belief, as it would make them fight to extremity 
rather than surrender. The American officers were apprised 
of this delusive opinion and directed that all such prisoners 
should be treated very kindly. The good treatment they 
received after capture confirmed them for a short time in 
their suspicions that they were being fatted for the day of 
slaughter, and induced many of them to run away — the very 
thing 1 the Americans wanted. Of those taken at the battle 
of Princeton several ran away and came into this town, doubt- 
less induced to do so by the German settlements previously 
made here. They were industrious and made valuable 
citizens. 

We are also informed by the chronicles of those times that 
when the English troops evacuated the city of New York to 
return to Europe, " The Hessian troops were peculiarly de- 
sirous to desert, so as to remain in the country, and hid 
themselves in every family where they could possibly secure 
a friend to help them escape." * * "It was really an 
affecting sight to see the operation of the final departure of 
all the king's embarcation. The royal band beat a farewell 
march. Then to see so many of our countrymen with their 
women and children leaving the land of their fathers because 
they took the king's side, going thence to the bleak and bar- 
ren soil of Nova Scotia, was at least affecting to them. Their 
hearts said, 'My Country! with ail thy faults, I love thee 
still.' " In contrast to this followed the entry of our tattered 
and weather-beaten troops followed by all the citizens in reg- 
ular platoons. 

Oil ! one day of such a welcome eight, 
Were worth si whole eternity ot lesser years.*' 



£54 TOWK OF MONTGOMERY. 

" Then crowded home to their own city all those who had 
been abroad, reluctant exiles by British rale, now fondly 
cherishing in their hearts, 'This is my own, my native land. " J 

Neelytown. — This place was settled before 1741 and by 
emigrants from Ireland. In that year William Eager, the 
great-grandfather of the writer, made a purchase of several 
hundred acres and located it ; a part of which is still in the 
possession of his descendents of the fourth generation from 
him. When he came, he found, at least, two settlers there 
before him — Mr. John Neely and Charles Booth — both snug- 
ly seated in their new habitations. At the first organization 
of the town in 1768 we find the name of William Eager the 
second, (son of the first settler of the name) on the recorda 
as overseer of the poor. The family of Neely gave name to 
the settlement, and, at this day, the name has run out in all 
that vicinity. This portion of the town is a body of fine land, 
and well adapted to grass and grain. Through the central 
portion of the settlement runs the Beaver Dam Brook, a never 
failing stream fed wholly by springs, but, lying low, fur- 
nishes no water power. Along this are the natural" meadows 
extending in one unbroken glade from just south of the 
Goodwill or Walkill Meeting house to Campbell Hall on the 
Otter Kill. This settlement was of large extent, reaching 
from the Goodwill meeting house at the north down to 
Campbell Hall at the south ; and from the Walkill, near 
Capt. James McBride's on the west, to the west line of the 
town of New Windsor, about four miles square. 

Some of the early settlers of the town, now recollected, were, 
Little John Neely, Grandy John Neely, Chas. Booth, his sons 
Charles and George, Wm. Eager, his sons Willam and Thom- 
as, Jas. Houston, Patrick Barber, John Blake, Alex. Tremble, 
JamesM cCobb, Rob't Monell, Teunis Van Orsdell, Gideon 
Pelton, Robert Sutter, Rev. Robert Annan, James McBridc, 
William Jackson, Jas. Jackson, Dr. Clinton, Col. John 
Nicholdson, and James Barkley. 

These old settlers, of different religious creeds, with others 
of the established church, in about 1765 joined their temporal 
means for spiritual benefit, built what was called the Neely- 
town Church, and called the Rev. Robert Annan to be their 
pastor. The church was Associate Reformed Presbyterian, a 
more particular history of which we will lay before the read- 
er in this paper. In old times, when churches were few and 
the population sparse, a congregation covered a large extent 
kof territory. Within the recollection of the writer, Messrs. 
Shaw, Mc Williams, Mrs. Wilson and others from Scotchtown : 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 256 

Messrs. Wood and Youngs from Little Britain ; Moses Bull. 
William Bull, James Bull, Robert Hall and his sister Miss 
Miriam, Youmans, John Wilkin, Robert Wilkin and others 
from Walkill, were in regular attendance at this church, be- 
sides a large number of those who formed the congregation 
of Graham's church in the now town of Crawford. We shall 
never forget the Sabbath day appearance of Robert Hall, his 
sister Miriam and colored servant woman. They usually 
came in a cart, driven by Miriam, for Robin was a poor 
Sawney of a thing and worthless for every purpose. A certain 
form and order indicating notions of rank and superiority 
were clearly observed in the manner of these people. In the 
cart, drawn by a horse which spent the day in going to and 
returning from kirk, first sat Miriam, holding the lines in 
one hand and driving with the other, cutting and hurrying 
on, but making little progress by the hour. Next, and 
straight behind her, sat Robin, dull and stupid as a piece of 
carved wood, and in greater dread of Miriam's tongue than 
the horse was of her gad. Third, and last in the row, sat 
the African servant,, clean and respectful, the very image of 
submission and obedience, who would not speak unless bid- 
den by her mistress, if her poor life depended upon the act. 
When they arrived, cart unloaded and horse secured, the 
same order of precedence in the line of march to the church 
door was systematically taken up and rigidly enforced. We 
have seen this a hundred times and never saw it otherwise. 
The return from church was conducted in the same invaria- 
ble order. The whole affair was novel and truly ridiculous 
in the eyes of young republicans, and between the three, the 
neat and obedient African shared the largest respect of the 
people. Peace to the memory of Miriam ! for though hard 
and cruel in all her exactions, self-willed, dictatorial and 
bigoted, but rigid in the discharge of Christian duties, by her 
last will, she established and founded the Ed scholarship in 
the Theological Seminary at Princeton. 

This old Scotch lady that would be, in despite of public 
opinion, was always in trouble with Mr. William Wilson, a 
neighbor and countryman of her's. They used to fight, quar- 
rel, and come to blows, in which Miriam frequently had the 
best of the fight. Mr. Wilson, perhaps, in respect to her 
sex apd frailty, had forborne to use his powers to the extent 
he was capable of, at last concluded there was no virtue in 
longer forbearance. One day they met on the highway, and 
after the exchange of a few sharp long shot, by way of pre- 
paration, came to blows. Mr. Wilson threw her down and 



256 town or Montgomery. 

intentionally broke her arm, and there the battle ended. Mir- 
iam sued him at the law, which frightened him lest it might 
take his farm to pay the damages. He proposed to leave it 
to men ; the proposition was accepted, and early one morn- 
ing, Mr. Wilson called on the writer's father to get him to 
act as one of the men. He stated his case and ended by say- 
ing, " that he and Mrs. Hall had agreed to leave the decision 
of the matter to Capt. Tremble and Squire Eager, and trouble 
no honest people with it, and he would be much obliged if he 
would serve him." This compliment ensured a compliance. 

With the leader's permission we return to Neelytown. — 
We establish the date of this settlement by the age of William 
Eager, the second son of the first settler of that name. He 
was born on the ocean while his parents were coming to the 
country, and died in 1813, aged 85. When the family ar- 
rived they went into Westchester county and remained there 
for thirteen years, when they removed to Neelytown. If 
William had lived till 1846, he would have been 118 yeara 
old, which taken from 1846 leaves 1728, the year of arrival. 
Subtract the 13 years spent in Westchester and it leaves 105 
years, which taken from 1846 gives 1741, the year the fami- 
ly came to the place. When they came, they found Mr. 
Neely on the farm now owned and occupied by Mrs. Mary 
Tremble and Mr. Charles Booth, at the north end of the 
Tamarack Swamp, beside a beautiful spring of clear water. 
When these two individuals came we do not know — proba- 
bly but a few years before. The Booths are English ; the 
Neelys and Eagers, Irish. 

The first stock the family owned in their new residence 
were two heifer calves ; to support which through the win- 
ter, they went over to the Tamarack Swamp, some two miles 
off, in the vicinity of Mr. Booth, at the proper season, and 
cut the long grass which grew there for fodder, which, in 
the winter, they drew home on a hand sled with the aid of 
snow shoes. Their first house was a log one, and situated in 
the orchard west of the present tan yard and bark house of 
Mr. James Peck. The second was of stone and is the kit- 
chen of the dwelling house of Mr. Mulford, the present 
owner of the farm. This was built before the Revolution. 
The land was cultivated for a year or two with the hoe and 
spade, as they had no horses or oxen ; a plough could not 
have been used if they had one. Wheat was the first, and, 
for many years, the principal crop. Rye was not raised by 
the family till after 1800. The land, till then, would pro- 
duce as much wheat as rye, and one was twice the value of 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 257 

the other. For many years after settlement there was no 
mill on the Walkill, where grain was ground ; and their first 
flour was made at Madam Brett's mill at the mouth of the 
Fishkill creek in Dutchess county. There was no mill, at 
this time, between the settlement and Newburgh. After a 
few years the roads became somewhat improved ; the quan- 
tity of grain raised exceeded home consumption, and was 
carried to market. The market places were either at the 
village of New Windsor, or John Ellison's mill, now Major 
Morton's. When grain was first taken to either of those 
places, there was nothing but a footpath through the woods, 
along a line of marked trees as guides. The usual mode 
was to load three horses with bags, ride one and lead two. 
Returning home, the two were turned loose to follow the ri- 
der. The usual price of wheat was fifty cents. With the 
increase of population and cultivation of the soil the price 
advanced : but, as these matters are within the knowledge of 
the present inhabitants, we will not stop to relate them. 

We remark that Jas. McBride, the grandfather of Gen. 
John McBride, of Hamptonburgh, and Mr. White, the grand- 
father of Major John White, of Walkill, were passengers on 
board the same vessel with William Eager. Capt. James 
McBride, of the Revolution, married the daughter of William 
Eager, son of the first settler. The lands first purchased by 
these families are in part possessed by their descendents. — 
These families arrived in 1728, and have been in the State 
118 years. 

We have mentioned that Charles Booth was an early set- 
tler at Neelytown. He had two sons, Charles and George, 
each of whom married a daughter of William and Sarah Bull, 
the first settlers in the town of Goshen as is supposed. This 
individual was the ancestor of all the Booths in the county, 
and the families are very numerous at the present time. Mr. 
Booth purchased one thousand acres and located it. The 
spot occupied by his first house, at the north end of the 
Tamarack Swamp, was recently occupied by Mr. W'illiam 
Conning, of Scotch descent, who married in the family. 

Charles continued to reside during his life on the spot se- 
lected by his lather. Capt. William Jackson of the Revolts 
tion, and the father of Capt. William Jackson of Neelytown 
and Dr. Samuel Jackson of the Navy, married a daughter 
of Charles Booth. George, the other son, made a new loca- 
tion on the original purchase and built a house on the farm 
owned by William Booth of the last generation, just east 
of the thread of woods separating the lands of Mrs. George 

Q 



258 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

Conning' from the Booth estate, and about the fourth of a 
mile south west from the late residence of William Booth, 
deceased. This, however, was worn out half a century 
since. The largest part of this one thousand acres is still 
held by the Booth family, where it has been for 120 years. At 
an early period in the history of the town, Mr. George Booth 
was an active member of the community, and we find his 
name on the Records as early as 1770, discharging the office 
of a Justice of the Peace. The Booth family emigrated first 
to Long Island, and from there to this town. The first and 
second generation of this family were large and very tall 
men, far more so than those of the present. 

Bookstaver. — Among the early settlements We mention 
the one made on the farm - now owned by Mr. David 
Bookstaver, a mile or two north of the Dutch Church. At 
this locality, Jacob Bookstaver, Frederick Sinsabaugh and 
Johannes Youngblood, in 1735, purchased a tract of 800 
acres of William Sharpus, of the city of New York. The 
land cleared up by these individuals is said to have been 
among the first disrobed of its native woods in this vicinity. 
If this was so, they must have taken possession and made 
clearings before the date of their purchase ; for the German 
Reformed Church in the immediate vicinity of this settlement 
was organized in 1732, three years before, and, of necessity, 
there must have been other clearings previous to the date of 
this deed, made by the then members of this congregation. 
To support the truth of this tradition, we are forced to adopt 
the supposition above expressed. It was a common every- 
day occurrence with the early settlers to locate and procure 
the title afterwards. 

The first crop put in was wheat, and they committed it to 
the virgin soil, broken up and dug over by a hoe only, and 
then left it to be taken care of and nourished by the rains of 
autumn and the vernal sun. 

"Be gracious. Heaven ! for now laborious man 

Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes, blow! 

Ye softening dews, ye tender showers, descend ! 

And temper all, thou world-reviving sun." 

These individuals were from Germany, and, on arriving 
in the country, came to this town. In the history of the 
German Reformed Church of this town, it will be found that 
Johannes Youngblood, (then spelled Jong Bloet,) was the 
first Elder and Jacob Bookstaver, (then spelled Booch Sta- 
ber,) the first deacon. This church was built and congrega- 
tion formed as early as 1732. Some of the land then pur- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 259 

chased by these individuals is still in the ownership of their 
descendents, of whom Mr. Bookstaver, the gentleman above 
mentioned, is one in the third degree from his ancestor, Ja- 
cob Bookstaver. Some of the descendents of these early 
settlers are now of the fifth generation. 

This class of emigrants was similar to the Germans who 
now come to the country, and are disseminating themselves 
over the Western States. They had means sufficient to bring 
them here, and pay for a few hundred acres of new land 
beside. Thi3 was all they absolutely needed ; for, being 
nationally thrifty, frugal and industrious, the first crops 
would supply their wants for the table, and their own hands 
could erect, the log cabin to shield them from the heat of 
summer and protect them from the cold, rude blasts of win- 
ter. The climate of the region they came from in Europe 
was, perhaps, nearly as rigorous as this during the cold sea- 
son of the year, and, therefore, this class of emigrants expe- 
rienced but little danger in this respect ; though, doubtless, 
they were subject to the fevers incident to all new countries, 
and which prevailed in this vicinity through half a century 
of early cultivation. When these men came to this new lo- 
cation, the land was covered by a dense and unbroken for- 
est, the season so far advanced, and the winter would be so 
soon upon them, that they were forced to protect themselves 
as best they could. To erect even a log cabin was out of the 
question : — their neighbors, few and far between, and but 
little belter off than themselves in facilities to accommodate 
them — like the inhabitants of the regions of the North, 
and the earlier settler, Johannes Miller, on the hill at the 
Walk ill. hereinafter mentioned ; they concluded to excavate 
a resting place for the winter in the side of a hill, and abide 
there till Spring, with its genial influences, should dissolve 
the snow drifts, and permit them to go abroad and bestow 
some labor upon family comforts. This location was in the 
side of a gravelly hill, just east of the Brick Church, and 
north of the present Newburgh and Cochecton turnpike : 
and there, in that humble dwelling, lowly as the Saviour's 
birth place, the first born of Mr. Bookstaver was permitted to 
see the light of heaven and hear the bowlings of the winter's 
storm. 

On the journal of the Assembly for 1735, we find a bill for 
naturalizing the following named persons, among others : — 
Matys Milsbagh, Hendrick Christ, Stephanes Christ, Larens 
Christ, Philip Milsbagh, Jacob Sinsebagh, Jacob Booch Sta- 
ter and Johannis Jong Bloet. 



260 TOWN Or MONTGOMERY. 

In the first settlement of a new and extensive region, 
there is nothing connected with it more honorable than to 
strike the first blow that is to clear the soil for a coming - 
race, or, to give birth to an individual that maybe the father 
or mother to a line of numerous descendents. Those who 
succeed and come into the world, or begin its active du- 
ties under more ordinary and easy circumstances, attract 
but little attention, share the common fate of small noto- 
riety, and, a thousand to one, will live, die and be forgot- 
ten ; while the former, ever remembered and regarded with 
feelings of interest, respect and gratitude by a high minded 
and heroic people, will go down to future ages on the 
deathless page of the historian. This consideration en- 
dears their memory to posterity, stamps it with a certain val- 
ue, which will increase in intensity and patriot-worth with 
the lapse of time. The wide-spread and ever-enduring fame 
of half the gods and demi-gods of antiquity Avhich have come 
down to modern times in such bright and heroic colors, 
rests upon the same or like foundation. The ages which 
have passed, and now separate us from them, have cast an 
enchanting halo of glory around their names and memory, 
which, upon the principle we have stated, it would be little 
short of sacrilege to question or dissipate. In the case before 
us, the labor they performed, their early privations and bod- 
ily sufferings are the spices which embalm them in our 
memory. 

The descendents of these early and hardy settlers are now 
numerous in this and the adjoining town of Crawford. The 
national characteristics of industry, piety and sobriety, which 
they brought with them from the land of their fathers, still 
cling and adhere to them as a national blessing. The civil 
pursuits of the German emigrants have been generally in- 
clined to agriculture and kindred occupations, but with many 
respectable exceptions, of which Mr. Sinsabaugh, late Sheriff 
of the County, was one. 

Wilemantown. — At this place there was an early settlement. 
made by Henry Wileman, who owned a patent of 3,000 
acres, granted in 1709. The location is on the east bank of 
the Walkill, a mile below the village of Walden, at the 
mouth of the Tinbrook. Wileman located the patent and 
settled on it in a few years after its dale. It was divided in 
lots in 1712. In 1727, lie was admitted to practice law in old 
Orange County, and his name is the first on record. In the 
history of St. Andrew's Church in our paper, we find him a 
member of the congregation among the sparse population of 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 261 

the town as early as 1733. This church, we believe, was 
built on his land, was of logs, and was standing in 1775, as 
appears from the town record. There was a grave yard at- 
tached to it, and some of the grave stones are yet standing in 
a field ploughed over for half a century. This was the be- 
ginnig of St. Andrew's Church, now at Walden. It was a 
missionary station, and their third minister in 1744 was the 
Rev. Hezekiah Watkins, an ancestor of the writer on his 
mother's side. The farm on which the church stood after- 
wards belonged to Peter Hill, Esq., and Samuel Monell, de- 
ceased, and now to Lucas E. Millspaugh. One of these 
grave stones has this inscription on it : " Here lies the body 
of Mary, wife of John Green, who died June 17, 1752, aged 
57." From all we can gather of the history of early churches, 
this, we think, is the oldest in the town. 

Mr. Wileman, as we have been informed, was an Irish- 
man, a pretty free liver, noble and open hearted. He was a 
Free Mason, a membership very common at that early day, 
when the institution was supposed to have and communicate 
many virtues, and shed a benign influence over the private 
and public walk and conversation of its members. Either 
to found a Lodge, or perpetuate one already formed, Wile- 
man built a house on his farm for its accommodation, where 
they met during his life. After his death, the institution, 
having lost its principal patron, and the lands having pas- 
sed into other hands, went clown. 

There is a tradition in this town relating to the death and 
interment of Henry Wileman, and, as it was of an unusual 
character, we will relate it. Wileman died, and there was 
an attempt to bury him with certain honors. It was cus- 
tomary at that day to furnish liquor to all who came to honor 
the dead, and perform the last sad office that could be per- 
formed to a fellow being. All things being ready, the bear- 
ers, bier-carriers, mourners and others in attendance, start- 
ed with the corpse to inter it in the graveyard of the log 
church. Those, whose duty it was, by the programme of the 
occasion, to carry the dead to its final resting place, gave up 
after they had proceeded some two or three hundred yards 
from the residence of the deceased, and wholly failed to ac- 
complish the solemn and interesting duty assigned them. — 
The bier ceased to move and the corpse was let down by the 
roadside, and abandoned by those in charge of it, who had 
as much difficulty in walking back to the place they started 
from, and from their home, as in bearing the dead body of 
Henry Wileman. Among these bearers of the dead there 



£62 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

was one exception, but whether a clear case we cannot say, 
who, not content to leave the dead unburied and exposed to 
the then severe frosts and snows of winter, returned to the 
house, and having- procured the necessary implements, dug 
a hole at the road side, and there deposited, with his single 
hand, these mortal remains, and covered up the free and no- 
ble-hearted Irishman, the Patentee of 3,000 acres. By an 
alteration in the road, this grave was thrown into an adjoin- 
ing field ; and, when Mr. Peter Neaffie, the present owner 
of the Wilemantown farm, some twelve or fifteen years since, 
excavated the cellar for the erection of his present dwelling, 
he came unexpectedly upon the coffin and bones of Wileman, 
and gave them a safe and respectable resting place. Facts 
are stranger than fictions, and wonderful are the mutations 
of human affairs. 

During the Revolution in 1782 a portion of the American 
army, consisting of a part of the Virginia Line and some 
others, laid encamped on the farm now owned by Mr. Peter 
Neaffie, about one mile north of the village of Walden, and 
on the north bank of the Tinbrook, then known as the Wile- 
mantown Farm. It was so called from Henry Wileman, the 
Patentee of 3,000 acres of land at that place; and, at the 
commencement of the war, was owned by Peter Duboice, a 
British refugee, who had gone off and abandoned the farm. 
This is a beautiful location, the soil fine, and its untenanted 
Condition was probably the reason why the troops occupied 
it. The forces — a portion of the army at New Windsor — 
wintered at the place to protect a number of baggage wagons, 
cannon and other munitions of war, sent for safety and more 
abundant subsistence in the country during winter. One cold 
night in the latter part of October, 1782, John McLean, after- 
wards Commissary General of this Stale for many years, was 
sent as a special messenger from this encampment to the Com- 
mander-in-chief at Newburgh on some important business. 
While on his way, and where Stony Brook crosses the Shaw- 
angunk road, he was waylaid, seized, taken from his horse, 
gagged, tied to a tree, and the papers relating to his mission 
taken away from him. Here he was left to the mercy of acci- 
dent ; to be relieved by the first neighbor or traveller who 
should pass that way. As good luck would have it, he was for- 
tunately relieved during the ensuing morning, although al- 
most perished by the cold of the night. This incident, no 
doubt, together with a familiarity with the Clinton family soon 
after the war, contributed to aid the political preferment of 
this gentleman. 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 2C3 

The individuals who perpetrated this outrage on Mr. Mc- 
Lean, at the time, were suspected to be some of the gang of 
Claudius Smith ; who, though then deceased, yet his band 
of marauders were still alive, and active in persecuting the 
Whigs. The rascals were not content with inflicting this 
personal violence, but stole his horse ; and Mr. McLean af- 
terwards claimed and received compensation from the proper 
authority. At the time we speak of, therej was a large, 
brick dwelling house on the farm, which the troops used as 
an Arsenal, while they laid there. Many years afterwards, 
in 1806, when taken possession of by the ancestor of the 
present proprietor, several gun barrels and an old, wrought 
hand grenade, with other warlike implements, were dug up 
in the cellar, where they had laid undisturbed for twenty 
years. The soldiers for some cause, perhaps to make mus- 
ket balls, tore off the lead which secured the pediment and 
roof of the building; which, being untenanted for many years 
after the war, and unobserved, caused it to leak, and brought 
the edifice to a premature decay. This building we have 
often seen when a boy : it was torn down about the year 
1809. Among the soldiers were two worthy Scotchmen, who 
were directed to cut down for camp purposes, a large white 
oak tree, which they effected by cutting it around on all 
sides. When the tree was about to fall, the two men ran 
away from it, but having no idea from the manner cut which 
way it would fall, both ran along the same snow track and 
were killed. The stump, showing the manner in which the 
tree had been cut down, remained undecayed and visible for 
many years. The army, while here, cleared about twenty 
acres of woodland. 

That this building and locality had their revolutionary as- 
sociations we were not aware, until a day or two since, when 
informed of the particulars above stated, by Mr. Cornelius 
Neaffie, of Walden, who had them from a most reliable 
source — an individual who lived in the vicinity at the time. 

This Wileman farm was confiscated after the war as the 
property of Peter Duboice ; but, in consequence of some con- 
veyance made by him before he left to evade a forfeiture, and 
a claim founded uponjit by the Schuyler or Livingston fam- 
ily, who were good Whigs, the confiscation was revoked or 
never carried into effect. 

Extract from Ike Journal of the Committee of Safety, December 13, 1777. 

" The account of John McLean for riding four days to Poughkeepsie — 
from thence to New Windsor and Little Britain and reluming, to wit : 1st. 



264 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

2nd and 3rd days of December to convey a letter from Maj. Gen. Gates, 
and two other letters to Brigadier Gen. George Clinton. 

Ordered, That the Treasurer pay John McLean £4 16s. in full of said 
account. 

The Committee of Safety appointed and employed several 
persons as riders, to convey dispatches, letters, etc. from 
place to place. John McLean, Abraham De Lamater and 
John Van Duzer were three of them. These were very use- 
ful and important officers, as they were trustworthy and al- 
ways at the direction of the Committee. 

Walden. — This place was originally called the High Falls 
of the Walkill. The fall of the stream is some forty feet. It 
is not perpendicular but in an angle of about forty-five de- 
grees. When the stream is full of water the sight is beautiful 
beyond description, and is increased in grandeur by the re- 
sistance of its rocky and irregular descent. At every step 
the foaming flood is met by some obstructing rock, which 
throws the rush of water in another direction — there again to 
be impeded in its downward course, and forced aside by the 
mighty pressure from above. Thus struggling from rock to 
rock, deep buried by the headlong torrent, the flood in tones 
of thunder meets the abyss below, and plunging deep, comes 
boiling up throughout the mighty cauldron, and in whirling 
eddies flows on its way. The roar of this waterfall in the 
vicinity is almost deafening for a little while, and the view 
of it from both sides of the stream, which, at this place, are 
high, is truly grand and magnificent. The abyss below is 
really frightful at such a time, yet, directly over it, at the 
foot of this fall, in old times the first settlers built a bridge 
which remained there till the site was changed to the present 
locality at Gallatin's Mill. 

The reason of building this bridge in this place was to ac- 
commodate a grist mill early erected at the very foot of the 
falls on the east side. We believe this mill was built by Mr. 
James Kidd, an early settler, but at what time we are no tin - 
formed. At the formation of the town in 1768, we find it in 
possession of Mr. Johannes Decker, the ancestor of John and 
Jonah Decker of Blooming Grove. In 1789, it was owned 
by Cadwallader Golden, jun., the son of Major Cadwallader 
Golden, the third son of Lieutenant Governor Cadwallader 
CoWen. This water power passed through several hands in 
succession, till it was occupied by the Messrs. Caprons as a 
cotton factory, the first of the kind at the place. 

A short time after the erection of this mill, Mr. Stephen 
Gilbert erected one on the same side of the stream, but lower 




TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 265 

down, and where the bridge now crosses it. We cannot state 
the date of this erection. Gilbert parted with it to Leonard 
D. Nicoll and Thomas Palmer ; they, to Silas and Daniel 
Woodruff; they, to John V. Brevoort, who owned it in 
1799, with 106 acres of land adjoining-: he parted with it to 
Schoonmaker, who owned it in 1804 ; and he to Mr. Jas. 
Galatian, who owned it until his death, and is now known as 
Galatian's mill. 

This is a valuable mill site, and not expensive in the 
maintenance of the dam. The ice is broken up by the falls 
above, which might otherwise endanger its safety. It is in 
the midst of a grain-growing district, and there is no other 
one in the immediate vicinity to do the ordinary count r\ 
work. 

We are not well informed of the name of the early settlers, 
at this locality and vicinity, yet, in addition to those previ- 
ously named we mention, Francy Cane, Hugh Milliken, Ja- 
cob Bodine, his sons Charles and Lewis, Jonathan Low, Pe- 
ter Bodine, Conrad Moore, William Bodine, Robert Kidd,. 
Thomas Clineman and William Erwin. The Millikens and 
Kidds were Irish ; the Bodines, Huguenots ; and Moore 7 
Dutch. Some of these individuals we find on the town re- 
cords as early as 1768 : — the families had, no doubt, been 
there twenty years or more before that time. 

This location is beautiful and romantic, but there is not 
enough of poetry and fancy about us to do it justice. The 
reader must be content with our cold historic gravity, and gc 
and see for himself. When we began to write this paper, we 
promised not to exceed the truth knowingly, and, to ensure 
mere matter of fact, threw away all our poetry, and clipped 
close oil' the wings of imagination to the very bone. But. 
standing as we now do on the elevated bankof the stream in 
the vicinity of tire falls, we cannot do less than inform the 
reader what we see. 

The neat little village, as it lies almost embosomed in ever- 
green and other forest trees, on both sides of the stream, is 
spread out before you, so that you see every house. The 
Walkill — rich, at this vicinity, in hydraulic power — like a 
foaming steed, comes on from the South, and, as if chafed by 
the slightest impediment at the head of the falls, bursts away, 
then leaps with maddened fury the fearful height, and, roar- 
ing, plunges into the eddying gulf beneath. Then recover- 
ing, but, as if stunned by the sudden and long descent, 
groans, and with heaving breast decked with snow white 
foam, glides off to the North, never again to repeat the leap. 



266 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

The mass of the buildings, being of recent construction, ap- 
pear neat and beautiful, make a favorable impression on the 
spectator, and impart life and animation to all around. The 
dwellings are of every grade and size, from the neat little 
cottage with its cultivated garden, to the stately mansion 
which graces some gentle knoll, or looks down in gentlemanly 
grandeur from a more elevated height. Though the village 
is situated on high land, yet it is made to appear compara- 
tively low by the higher and more elevated lands by which 
it is surrounded. From all these heights in every direction 
around, the village is distinctly seen, as it lies like a snow 
drift in the midst of a forest. These elevations are occupied 
by the residences of Messrs. William Smith, Cornelius Neaffie, 
the old venerable mansion of William Erwin, of Charles Bo- 
dine and others on the west ; and by that of Jesse Schofield, 
Esq., the Presbyterian Church, Seth Capron, George Scho- 
iield, Augustus Schofield and others on the east. Directly at 
your side, and on the same line, are the falls, clad either in 
beauty or grandeur as they may strike the spectator. Close 
in and under the falls, and nestling as it w r ere for safety from 
the eternal vibration that shakes its foundation, stands the 
cotton mill, fed from a canal which taps the dam from above. 
Off runs the stream to leap the dam at Galatian's, but ere it 
leaves, and as if in boyish sport and frolick, hurls in one con- 
tinuous round the wheels of that ancient mill. There is now 
seen a horseman drawing up his steed at one end of the 
bridge, to wait an instant till the honest farmer, with his load, 
shall have passed over. He moves, and before the sound of 
his horse's hoofs have died away, we hear the merry laugh 
and pleasant voices of the girls and boys in chattering groups, 
returning from the school house. Reader ! what more do 
you wish to be added to the scene ? 

The banks of the stream are studded throughout this lo- 
cality by evergreens, and its sides walled in by the ever-en- 
during rocks. Hark ! the busy sound of industry is heard as 
it comes on the balm)'' softness of the evening air. Manhood 
and youth are yet busily engaged before partaking of the 
evening meal, and retiring to that repose which virtuous in- 
dustry can alone enjoy. Here and yonder over the stream 
stand the factory crowded and alive with children, with in- 
telligent machines that work with the power and skill of 
men. The view from this locality is not of a limited char- 
acter but extensive and fine. At the west the Shawangunk 
mountains lift up their long line of azure blue as they extend 
to the north — far, in that direction, the elevated peaks of the 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 267 

Catskills raise aloft their massy heads till they seem to lean 
and rest against the canopy of the sky ; while at the east 
and south the bold and broken eminences of the Highlands 
as they gird the country round in those directions, and ap- 
proximate the Hudson, are distinctly within the line of vis- 
ion. Though the locality in fact is in an elevated situation, 
yet, being thus surrounded by the broken links of a mountain 
chain, it seems to be at the bottom of a shallow geological 
basin. 

But we leave the spectator to indulge himself as he may be 
inclined, while we hasten to execute another portion of this 
article. Walden is about eleven miles from Newburgh, and 
has its name from Mr. Jacob T. Walden, who formerly resided 
there, owned the water power and a large tract of land in the 
immediate vicinity of the falls — previously owned by Wm. 
Erwin and before that by Mr. Gatehouse. This place and 
country round are under lasting obligations to this gentle- 
man for his zeal, friendship and uniiring perseverance in 
favor of domestic manufactures. This gentleman was an 
early friend to home industry ; and no man in the country 
did more, on all proper occasions by words and actions, to 
impress it on the public mind, and awaken the citizens of the 
county and elsewhere to their true interest, than Mr. Walden. 
Some men see farther in advance of the times than others, 
and this gentleman was one of them, and he may be said to 
have been gratified with a "second sight" in this matter. 
The community at large are getting awake upon this great 
and vital question, and many, in all parts of this widely ex- 
tended Republic, begin to see things in the same light with 
Mr. Walden. 

This village is also deeply indebted to Messrs. Cornelius 
Neaffie, Erwin, Galatian, George Weller, Jesse Scofield and 
sons, and the Caprons for their early and steady friendship 
and patriot enterprise in the various departments of manu- 
factures. These men persevered when the times were hard, 
and when their labors and large expenditures in an infant 
business wanted protection. They neither faltered nor re- 
laxed their exertions, and, by their instrumentality this vil- 
lage has grown up to be the pleasant, beautiful and industri- 
ous place that it now is. If you strike the efforts of these 
gentleman and a few others out of existence, you disrobe the 
village of its present adornment, stop the busy hum of in- 
dustry and employment and depopulate it in a single hour. 
The place is now decidedly of a moral character, and the in- 
habitants a church-going people, who take a pride in sup- 



268 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

porting all such beneficial institutions. There are three 
churches in the village, one Episcopal, one Presbyterian and 
one Reformed Presbyterian. 

No inland village is better accommodated with good roads. 
The Newburgh and Cochecton turnpike, leading through 
Coldenham, runs within three miles of Walden. Those 
leading to it from the west, and along the Walkill, are usu- 
sually in a capital state of repair. A ride along the stream 
over the Tinbrook, through Wilemantown and north into 
Ulster, is among the most pleasant and agreeable in all the 
country round. 

Though we have been tedious to the reader in this item of 
our paper, we cannot consent to leave it without making a 
special reference to its pursuits and capabilities as a place for 
manufacturers. It is already a manufacturing village of 
wool and cotton to a very considerable extent, which gives 
employment and bread to a great nitmber of individuals who 
would be troubled to get along comfortably in these times. — 
The locality bids fair to rival Paterson or Pawtucket, since it 
has advantages over either of them, and equal to either in 
the extent of water power. The whole stream is available, 
and that in the safest and most economical manner. The 
water is taken out of the dam above the falls on the east side, 
by a permanent and capacious canal, along which are the 
mill sites. The west side of the stream affords the same fa- 
cilities, though we do not know that any are occupied as yet. 
The fall being some forty feet, the water can be worked over 
three or four times before it reaches the level of the stream 
below. Its hydraulic power is, therefore, almost without 
limit. The situation is in the heart of a grain-growing coun- 
try, where the necessaries of life are abundant and cheap. — 
Articles of a perishable nature, or not worth a distant trans- 
portation can be sold here. Wood abounds in the vicinity, 
and is sold, perhaps, at half the price that it is at the places 
above named. Tin's is a great saving to the poor laborer. — 
The town being agricultural and wealthy, the taxes are not 
high : these, with many other items which might be named, 
all operate favorably. 

Manufactures were commenced here in 1822, though there 
were Hour mills at the place from the early settlement of the 
town. There are now three or four manufacturers of wool 
and cotton, and, we believe, a machine shop. The influence 
of the village is directly felt by the farming interest of the 
vicinity for many miles round as a market for all kinds of 
agricultural products. 






TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 269 

We might remark in conclusion that the village is now of 
that character, magnitude and stability, which can afford 
all necessary accommodations for other additional manufac- 
tures. We are under the belief that such institutions flourish 
best together, and where facilities, such as houses, board, 
merchandize, etc., can be furnished to laborers and families 
on the spot by the citizens of the place, without forcing the 
manufacturers alone to be at the risk, trouble and expense of 
such accommodations. 

Searsburgh. — At this place there was an early settlement 
made by Johannes Snider, where he owned a large tract of 
land, situate on both sides of the Dwars Kill. This stream, 
at the time, furnished a greater water power than at present, 
in the cleared up condition of the county. At this place he 
erected a log mill which was known on the town records as 
Snider's Mill in 1768. This was the first flour mill in that 
vicinity. This is in the present town of Crawford. Mr. 
Snider, being a man of means, built a log church — also 
known as Snider's Church, at the above period. The preach- 
ing was in Dutch, and the church worn out before the Revo- 
lution. The family is Dutch, and settled here as early as 
1740. 

Pine Bush. — The western boundary of the town, at the 
time we speak of, was the Shawangunk Kill. On this Mr. 
Robert Milliken erected a saw mill — called Milliken's Mill 
on the town records in 1768. This appears to be the earliest 
mention of a saw mill on this stream. The following mills 
formerly were on this kill, within the breadth though not all 
within the limits of the town. Beginning at (he south, and 
counting down the stream, we have first, the old flour mill, 
of Pat. Boice — by whom built we are not informed. It 
is now the property of Mr Locy. Next was Milliken's 
saw mill — next, Sear's grist mill — next, Abraham Bruyn's 
flour mill — and last, Cornelius Slott's saw and grist mill. — 
This last is now owned by his son Arthur Slott, who has 
gathered around him on his own property, a village of a 
dozen tenements. Saw mills were not used in England till 
about 1633. That year there was one erected near London, 
but afterwards demolished, that it might not deprive the la- 
boring poor of employment. 

The ancestors of Mr. Slott. are among the most ancient in 
the Slate. The family is Dutch, came from Holland, and 
arrived in the city of New York in 1670. This is proved by' 
family records. 'There were three brothers fhat came to the 
country. On arriving at New York, they proceeded and lo- 



270 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

cated at Hackensack in New Jersey. After a number of 
years they removed to Rockland county, New York ; and 
from there to the town of Montgomery in this county, on the 
Tinbrook, at what is called Slott toivn. By this time the old 
generation had died off, and Cornelius Slott, above named, 
was the active member of this branch of the family. Though 
understanding- several of the mechanic arts he confined him- 
self to agriculture. When the militia were ordered out to 
defend Fort Montgomery in 1777, Mr. Slott went with his 
company as an orderly Sergeant. The fort was taken, and 
Mr. Slott made prisoner. He was taken to New York and 
put in the old Sugar House, where he was confined ten 
months. When set at liberty he returned to his farm with a 
constitution injured by the service and hard and cruel 
treatment while in prison. He sold his farm in 1785, and 
moved to the city of New York. In 1790 he moved back to 
Orange, and made a purchase of the mill site at Pinebush ; 
and in the same year put up a saw mill on the Shawangunk 
Kill, just below the mouth of the little Peakadasank. In 
1791 he erected the grist mill near the present site of Arthur 
Slott's mill. When he first settled at this place there was no 
public road leading to his mill, and he called the commis- 
sioners of the town who laid out a road from Hopewell 
north to his mill, then across the stream to intersect the old 
Shawangunk road that led to Albany. 

Arthur, Johannes and Cornelius Slott, of this generation, 
are children of this old patriot, and settler in the town, him- 
self a descendent from the Hollanders above named. 

There was a settlement near Graham's Church that de- 
serves a notice in our paper. The residents were Mr. Abra- 
ham Dickerson, father of Mr. Adam Dickerson, John Rob- 
inson, father of Isaiah Robinson, and Philip Decker, father 
of Joseph Decker. The last two were from Holland; the 
first of Irish descent. Mr. Dickerson had a saw mill on a 
small stream near his house which was worn out and gone 
half a century since. 

The Valley of the Walkill throughout the town was among 
the earliest portions settled. This was effected by Germans, 
Hollanders and a few Huguenots, sonic of whom came di- 
rectly to the town on arriving in the country, and others from 
the settlements previously made in Ulster county. We are 
not able from any historic records in possession, or distinct 
reliable tradition, accurately to determine what families in 
particular are entitled to priority in this work of early popu- 
lation ; and shall not, therefore, attempt to assign it to any 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 



271 



one in particular, but leave the honors to be equally divided 
among- them — satisfied that when their names shall be 
known, the county will revere and respect their memory for 
their simplicity and virtues, good deeds and early hardships. 

The families we are about to name were located in the 
town, made improvements of various kinds, in cultivating 
the land, building- bridges, making roads, forming congre- 
gations and erecting churches before the organization of the 
Precinct in 1767. All this was the work of time, and we 
have no doubt that many of them had been in the town 
twenty or thirty years before the period above stated. 

The list is made from the early records of the town, where 
their names appear in the discharge of various ofiices, or 
otherwise named. The spelling of the record is preserved, 
erroneous as it may be. 

The following is a list of names which appear on the town 
record, including Crawford, from 1768 to 1778. Some of 
them were in the present (own of Walkill, which, till 1772, 
was apart of Montgomery. 

Cadwallader Co'den, Edward McNerJ, 
Samuel McColm, Jacob Linderman, 

Patrick Barber, John Tale, 



Henry Patterson, 
James White, 
Ceorge Smith, 
Thomas Bull, 
AJexander Tremble, 
John Robinson, 
.Archibald McCurdy, 
Charles Booth, Jan., 
George Booth, 
William Cox, 
Thomas Baty, 
James Glatia, 
Mans Jerry Smith, 
Andrew Walker, 
Jacob Crist, 
James McCobb, 
George Monell, 
Barney Roe, 
Jonathan Webb, 
David Current, 
Jacob Crans, 
James Crawford, 
Hans Jerry Tice, 
Nathaniel Hill, 
Daniel Butter':eld, 
John NcIYee!, 
Wm. Faulkner, 
John Milliken, 



James Wilkens, 
Francis Newman, 
John Dubois, 
John Miller, 
Henry Newkirk, 
Hemicus Van Keuren, 
Adam Newkirk, 
Jamei McCobb, 
Nathaniel Wells, 
Wm. Dean, 
Matthew Seely, 
Ned Hopper, 
Benj. Booth, 
Satn'l Watkins, 
John McNeal, 
David Harmon, 
Nicholas HoJtslander, 
John McCrcary, 
John Crans, 
Abraham Colwell. 
Christian Mengus, 
Helemus Weller, — " 
Nathaniel Hill, 
Ilcnrick Teiwilliger, 
Johannes Weller, 
Robert Monel, 
John McClean, 
Pctrus Crans, 



JamesMcCord, 
Matice Felter, j 
James Barkley, 
Johannes Moulg, 
Jacob Crist, 
Arthur Parks, 
John Davidson, 
"Wm. Watson, 
James McKee, 
David Crawford, 
Christian Rockefeller, 
Henry Savage, 
John Archy, 
Moses Philips, 
David Moore, 
John McGarrah, \_ 
Kia Gale, 
John Youngs, 
John Blake, 
Stevanus Crist, 
Hugh Milligan, 
Doct. Hill, 
John Booth, 
Johannes Snider, 
Wm. Barkley, 
John Graham, 
Joseph Crawford, 
John Wilkins, 
Andrew Graham, 
Hanreck Smith, 
George Kimbark, 



272 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 



Joseph Watkins, 
Henvy Snider, 
Benj. Hains, 
Wm. Neely, 
Hendfick Newkirk, 
James McBride, 
James Ward, 
John Hill, 
Henry Crist, 
Jacob Crist,' 
Jacob Millspach, 
Nicholas Davis, 
John Milligan, 



Thomas Neely, 
William Eager, 
Zachariah Codington, 
Thomas McKee, 
Wm. Wilkins, 
Johanes Decker, 
Philip Milspach, 
Jonathan Low, 
John Robinson, 
Joseph Crawford. 
Jacob Low, 
James Dunglass, 
James Hunter, 



Johanes W. Youngblood, Peter Rodine, 



Arthur McKing, 
Sam'l Smith, 
Dr. Clinton, 
James Gillespie, 
Hans Nip, 
Jacob Sinseback, 
Sam'l Miller, 
Wm. Miller, 
Wm. Comfort, 
Aunt Grover, 
Cobus Johnson, 
Little John Neely, 
David Jagger, 
Georg Smith, 
Wm. Moore, 
Wm. Mickles, 
Sam'l Rainey, 
James Houston, 
Cornelius Slott, 
StufHe Maul, 
Andreas Trernpour, 
Win McBurney, 
George Clark, 
David Mingus, 
James McMunn, 

From the historical review of this town, it appears that the 
eastern portion, extending - from the west line of New Wind- 
sor to the Wallkill, was originally settled almost entirely by 
Irishmen ; — that the Valley of the Walkill was settled by 
emigrants from Holland and Germany : — and that the west- 
ern portion, extending from Comfort's Hills, west of the 
Walkill, to the Shawangnnk Kill, embracing the town of 
Crawford, was jointly settled by Irishmen and Dutchmen in 
the proportion of two of the former to one of the latter. 
Though, at the original settlement of the town, large dis- 
tricts were in possession of the Dutch and Germans, yet, we 
cannot learn that either of those languages, were ever taught 



Thomas Peacock, 
Jacob Newkirk, 
Yerry Kimbank, 
Thomas Clineman, 
Robert Milligan, 
Philip Mouk 
Peter Hill, 
James Rainey, 
John Lackey, 
Robert Cross, 
James Rea, 
Samuel White, 
John Comfort, 
Robert Dill, 
Grandy John Neely, 
William Rodine, 
William Crist, 
Henry Neely, 
Samuel Harris, 
Jeremiah Fitzgerald, 
Edward Burns, 
Hugh Milligan, 
James Jackson, 
Andrew Thompson, 



Jonathan Smith, 
James Eager, 
John Colter, 
Marten Tice, 
Wm. Still,— 
Daniel Snider, 
John Gillespie, 
Abraham Dickerson, 
Adam Reamer, 
Jacob Bodine, 
Coonrad Moore, 
Christian Crist, 
Wm. Hill, 
John Young, 
Mattia Shulp, 
James Milligan, 
Dr. Smith, 
James Latta, 
Robert Thompson. 
Wm. Simerall, 
John Comfort, 
David Smith, 
Henry Neely, 
Joseph Houston, 
James McBride, 
James Graham, 
Peter Dubois, 
Teunis Yan Arsdell. 
Cromrnas Weller, 
Adam Sinseback, 
Hans Weller, 
Jason Wilkin, 
John Contstable, 
James Monel, ju:i.. 
Wm. Jackson, 
Hans Sease, 
Robert Hunter, 
Robert Kidd, 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 273 

in their public or private schools, except in two instances. — : 
There was one at the foot of the hill east of the Brick Church, 
and another at Hans Young-blood's for some years. The con- 
sequence was, those languages soon ran out, and though kept 
up by use in the family circle, in the pulpit and conversations 
of aged persons, they literally expired without an effort to 
preserve them, in the second and third generations, and by 
them, as by the other inhabitants, the English alone is 
spoken. Among the Germans and their first descendents it 
was very common to send to Philadelphia for Almanacs, 
•printed in their language. They were a little prejudiced on 
the point, and credited a statement found in them about all 
the matters and things usually contained in such books, even 
down to the wind and weather, with an easier faith than if 
the same were found elsewhere. 

Village of Montgomery. — A small village on the Walkill, 
twelve miles west of Newburffh, and called after the town in 
which it is the principal village. It was formerly called 
Wardsbridge. An old resident by the name of James Ward 
erected the first flour mill at the place, and built a bridge 
over the Walkill for the common benefit of himself and cus- 
tomers. This was called Ward's bridge, and as the village 
grew up around it, it received the same name. Wardsbridge 
was the former name of the Post Office, but to produce cer- 
' tainty and uniformity in that department, the Postmaster 
.changed it to Montgomery , and thus the village w r as changed 
from Wardsbridge to Montgomery. 

Walden. — A pleasant little village at the high falls of the 
Walkill, four miles north of the village of Montgomery. It 
is a manufacturing village having the advantage of great 
water power. It was named after Mr. Jacob T. Walden, a 
great patron of the place, who owned the plot of land upon 
which the village stands and other lands in the vicinity. 

Coldenlmm. — A small district of country on the Newburgh 
and Cocheelon turnpike, about midway between Montgome- 
ry and Newburgh villages. The place is named after the 
families of the Coldens who lived there. It was named 
Coldengham in the patent to Cadwallader Colden. 

St. Andrew's. — A settlement in the north-east part of the 
town, and called so from an Episcopal church, formerly of 
that name, erected under the patronage of Peter Du Bois and 
others who endowed it with a parsonage. The church build- 
nig is now worn out and taken clown, and the congregation 
worship at Walden, where they have an edifice for the pur- 
pose. A history of this church is found in our paper, 

R 



274 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

Comfort 1 s Hills. — A range of high land running north and 
south, about two miles west of the village of Montgomery. 
The dividing line between the towns of Montgomery and 
Crawford runs along this range. It had its name from a 
number of old families by the name of Comfort, who lived 
on the west side of the hill, and still numerous in the vi- 
cinity. 

Keisertown. — A settlement of Dutch people on the west 
bank of the Walkill, three miles from Montgomery, south- 
west and on the eastern slope of Comfort's Hill. Though on 
the banks of the Walkill, in this republican county, we 
find ourselves unexpectedly in royal company — in the very 
presence of the Ceesarsf The name Reiser is of blood royal 
descent, direct from Caesar, and in the German means King 
or Caesar. An example : Keiserluter in the Lower Palati- 
nate is Caesariopolis in Latin. The grand Emperor of Rus- 
sia is a Keiser, and claims it by calling himself the Czar of 
all the Russias, which is nothing less than calling himself 
Caesar, King, Keiser in his own native R.uss, the language of 
his country. This name, therefore, is good Dutch, and the 
emigrants imported it when they came. Keisertown, conse- 
quently, is an Imperial city, the town of a King, the city of 
Ceesar. 

Scott Toivn. — A settlement on the Newburgh and Cochec- 
ton turnpike, four miles east of the village of Montgomery, 
where there used to be a turnpike gate. The place had its 
name from Mr. John Scott, who resided there for many 
years, now dead. Samuel Monell lived there, hept a store, 
and attended the gate. 

Scott's Corner. — A few houses at the corners where the 
road leading from Walden to Goshen, near the Goodwill 
or Walkill meeting house, crosses the turnpike one mile 
and a half east of the village of Montgomery. The place 
was named after Mr. John F. Scott, who lived and kept store 
on one of the corners made by said roads, but now deceased. 
He was a son of Mr. John Scott, previously named. 

Ti?ibrook. — A small, rapid and fussy stream which enters 
the Walkill, half a mile below Walden. It is very long for 
so small a stream : — it rises in New Windsor, south of Col- 
denham, runs north, passes the turnpike just beyond the 
Coldenhain stone house — continuing north, takes a bend to 
the west and enters the W'alkill as above staled. 

It was known on the town records by this name in 1774.. 
We have some difficulty in deriving the name. Some say it 
got it from a man by the name of John Tinbrook, who lived 



r 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 275 

upon it ; others say it is made up of two Dutch words which 
mean Thin Breeches. This may be the true etymology of the 
name of the old gentleman mentioned above. If so, the old 
aphorism that "A light heart and a thin pair of breeches will 
carry a man through the world," may have had some allu- 
sion to this man or some of his connections in the upward or 
downward line of descent. Mr. Irving in his history of New 
York, thinks it doubtful whether the Dutch word means thin 
breeches, or ten pair of breeches! We leave the point to be 
settled by the Literati of that language. 

With due deference to Mr. Irving, we derive the name 
from two Saxon words : Tinn, which means thin or small, 
and Broc, which means running water less than a river. — 
Thus we have Tinn Broc corrupted into Tinbrook. This, 
doubtless, is the true etymology of the word. 

The special reason for the name Tinn Broc, assigned by 
tradition is as follows : The Dutch who settled Ulster, and 
the trait is a national one, preferred the low fat bottom 
lands when they could get them. One of the Dutch 
emigrants, wishing to locate some lah^ farther up the Wal- 
kill, left the Paltze, started up the stream and came to this 
brook, which he followed up to its source. On his return, 
lie reported that the lands that he had seen, and those along 
the brook were thin lands — that'is, they were not a deep fat 
soil — and, in allusion to this, they called the stream Tinn 
Broc. The name was thus descriptive of the lands through 
which it ran, as well as the width and depth of the brook. 

Muddy Kill. — A small, sluggish stream which has its rise 
in the eastern slope of Comfort's Hill, north of the turnpike, 
runts south, draining the meadows and lowlands in its course, 
and enters the Walkill between the German Reformed 
Church and Comfort's Hill. The name is from the Dutch 
words Modder, which means slime or mud, and Kill, which 
means brook or stream of water — thus Modeler Kill has been 
Anglicised into Muddy Kill. The English word is a true 
translation of the Dutch, and expresses the nature of the 
object. 

Walkill River.— /This stream has its rise in the Drowned 
Lands in New Jersey, of which it is. the natural outlet, runs 
north through Montgomery, and enters the Hudson near 
Kingston. In Ulster county it is called the Paltz River, from 
a place of that name on the borders of Holland and Germany, 
from whence some of the Huguenots came, who located along 
this stream at an early period of the settlement of Orange 



and Ulster. We believe the Huguenots, Dutch and Germ" 



-*fls 



276 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY/ 

were the first settlers upon the banks of this river throughout 
its whole course, except in the town of Walkill. The name 
Walkill is from the Dutch Walk, which means wall, as the 
side of a house — and kill, brook or stream. The true mean- 
ing- of the word is, "A stream walled in by high banks. — 
Though this is not an accurate description of this river yet 
there is no doubt that the original Dutch settlers called it 
Walkill, after the name of a stream in the country they came 
from, of which the term was a good and appropriate descrip- 
tion. If it had banks not one foot high it would have been 
called Wallkill, in honor and dear remembrance of their fa- 
ther's land. In this country a name is no description of the 
thing or object signified. This idea was not in all the thoughts 
of our ancestors. They never called any thing by a new 
name. There is a Wool river between the Meusc and 
Rhine in Holland. 

We have heard of another derivation and explanation of 
this word Walkill. The Rev. James R. Wilson, D. D., for- 
merly of this county, in some paper published by him, con- 
tended, if we recollect right, that it is a corruption of Wol- 
loonh kill. Some of the Huguenots who came to this country 
were called Walloons in Germany, deriving their name from 
the district of country in which they lived, in the French 
and Austrian Netherlands, where there was a stream of wa- 
ter by the name of Wolloon's kill, and settling on the banks 
of this river they called it, as in duty bound, Walloon' s kill — 
home, dear home at the time being uppermost in their 
thoughts. If there had been no river in Europe of that 
name, they might have called it after themselves. Here then 
we have a case of doubt and uncertainty, where the writer is 
in a perfect fog of bewilderment, and where neither history 
nor etymology, single or combined, illumines his derivative 
pathway; and, as intimated in the introductory remarks, the 
authroity and influence of the association are imperatively 
called upon to clear up the doubt, and fix the true etymologi- 
cal meaning. The whole case seems to be of Dutch origin, 
and it might be very proper to send the question to a com- 
mittee of the society skilled in that language, before final 
action on the point. We have no faith in the suggestion 
that Walkill is a corruption of Wolloon's kill. There is no 
tradition that it was so called, but, on the contrary, it was 
called Walkill from the earliest settlement. 

We are of opinion that the Doctor's zeal for the honor and 
integrity of the Wolloons, who came at an early period to 
this and Ulster counties, after being persecuted at home for 



TOWN Or MONTGOMERY. 277 

their Protestant faith, led him to suggest this etymology, with- 
out due reflection, and certainly without any historical, tra- 
ditional or local knowledge to warrant it. Indeed, upon this 
supposition, from the time it might have been called Wol- 
loon's kill till we find it called Walkill, there was not suffic- 
ient time in which it could have been corrupted so as to 
change the word as he contends for. On the records of the 
towns at their first organizations, this stream was called Wal- 
kill, which we think conclusive on this point. 

Indian Localities. — On the east bank of the Walkill, on the 
line between the towns of Montgomery and Walkill, and on 
the farm of Daniel Rogers, deceased, there was an Indian set- 
tlement. The land, at this location, and for some distance 
around, was cleared, and full grown apple trees flourishing 
when first visited by the white emigrants. Some of the trees 
were standing twenty-five or thirty years since. The name 
and history of the tribe are now lost. 

On the flat, just above the bridge across the Walkill, near 
Mr. John Miller's and below where the old Miller stone 
house stood, there was another settlement. They were there 
when Johannes Miller, the first settler, planted his shanty 
' on the hill above them as previously mentioned. Of these 
there is no tradition worth recording, except that they were 
friendly, and not many years after the settlement began to 
leave, and were all gone several years before the war. 

On the bank of the kill, and on or in the vicinity of the 
lands of Henry Crist, there was a small tribe : some strag- 
gling members of which, Mr. Crist, when a lad, remembered 
to have seen. They owned the eel dam or wear at the place, 
as previously stated at the early settlement of the town. 

On the farm of Mr. Stuffle Mould, on the main road from 
Montgomery to Albany, near the residence of Samuel 
Hunter, Esq., there was a fourth Indian location. This 
tribe was quite numerous. They broke up and left about 
the beginning of the old French war, which commenced in 
1755, in which the Indians took sides with the English. A 
tradition of this tribe is, that some short time before they left 
the settlement, the tribe at Mr. Crist's moved down and 
united themselves with this one. A squaw of this tribe, by 
association with the family of Mr. Mould, had become par- 
tially civilized and did not wish to go. She had made her- 
self useful to the family in many ways, and they wished to 
keep her. To accomplish this, with the consent of Mr. 
Mould, she hid herself somewhere about the house. The 
Indians in looking over the members of the tribe missed thin 



178 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

squaw, and knowing her intimacy with the family instantly 
suspected that she did not want to leave, and had secreted 
herself till the tribe should remove. To obtain her they sur- 
rounded the house for several nights in succession, made all 
kinds of hideous noise, demanding the absent squaw. At 
last Mr. Mould concluded that if she was not produced and 
given up, the Indians, as they were about to leave, would as 
soon break friendship for cause as not, and in the excitement 
of the moment might murder the family, he produced her, 
and this tribe left never to return. 

These were the last Indians seen in this vicinity in any 
considerable numbers. Unless we draw upon fancy which 
we are not inclined to do, we can only point to the Indian 
localities in the various towns, as now designated by tradition, 
and must consider their names and history lost. The same 
we have said of their customs, habits and manners. As far 
as we have been informed, they lived on terms of friendship 
with the early settlers in this town. We have not been in- 
formed of a good or bad act performed by them while they 
remained, worth relating. If they nourished a demon he 
slept quite soundly during their residence here. 
-- Johannes Miller, Esq., and Ancestors. — The father 
of Johannes Miller was John Miller, and his grandfather Jo- 
hannes Miller, a German -who emigrated to this country in 
the beginning of the 18th century, perhaps as early as 1720. 
On arriving at New York he remained there some time, and 
then removed to Esopus in Ulster county. From there he 
removed into the town of Shawangunk, in the neighborhood 
of the Schoonmakers and Bruyns, where he was hospitably 
received and pleased with the country. Brought up to la- 
bor at home, he could throw the shuttle, and, as there was 
weaving to be done at the place, concluded to try his skill 
upon the new products of the wilderness. He was young, so- 
ber and industrious. There were some young females in the 
families for whom he worked, who occasionally made and 
supplied him with quills for his web, and before he or they 
were aware, the young German had woven up one of these 
youngsters in a mesh of love; and Hymen approving the 
union, stopped the flying shuttle for a moment, spliced the 
threads and tied them up with a weaver's knot. Jemima 
Schoonmaker, daughter of Cornelius Schoonmaker, one of 
the first settlers in Ulster, for being a quilling girl, became 
Mrs. Johannes Miller. 

" Oh ! there are moments dear and bright, 
When loye's delicious spring is dawning 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 279 

Soft as the ray of quivering light, 
That wakes the early smile of morning: 

'Tis when warm blushes paint the cheek, 
When doubt the thrill of bliss enhances, 

And trembling lovers fear to speak, 
Yet tell their hopes by silent glances." 

Weaving was now laid aside, and their young- thoughts 
directed to something more profitable and diversified for a 
living. We are not in possession of this date. The ensuing 
spring Miller concluded to inspect the lands along the valley 
of the Walkill for a location. These were not held in high 
estimation by the early settlers of Ulster, for they were neither 
fiat nor fat as theirs, or those in Holland. We have been 
told that about. 120 years ago the people about Esopus raised 
a committee of five, and sent them into Dutchess county to 
explore the unsettled lands with a view of settlement, who, 
on their return, reported that the lands were not worth cros- 
sing the river for. 

Miller, with new born hopes, full of expectation, and his 
light heart beating at the thought of Jemima, whiled his 
lonely way on horseback along the valleys and hills which 
skirted the Walkill, and entered the town of Montgomery. 
Here, from inspection, he was satisfied he had found lands 
Upon which he could live by honest industry, and the help 
of his young vrow. He returned, ladened with good fortune 
and high hopes, with a saddle of fat venison behind him, to 
relate the adventures of a week and the rich discoveries he 
had made. Jemima became an easy convert to the truth of 
the narrative, and agreed, God willing, the ensuing Spring 
to accompany him, put up a cabin in the wilderness on the 
fair banks of the Walkill, clear the land and share tbe golden 
lleece. Not knowing the owner of the lands in view, they 
agreed to possess and cultivate, until they could legally pur- 
chase. This was a common practice at that early day, and 
we of the present denominate it squatting. It was done in 
good faith, and grew out of the necessities of the case. They 
did then what our western emigrants are now doing every 
day upon the lands of the government, and they were actu- 
ated by designs fully as honest. 

The time for Jemima to leave her father's^ welling came, 
and what was more bitter, the presence and care of her 
mother, and many were the terrors and awful stories conjured 
up and related with appropriete and double horrors to fright- 
en her against leaving a safe and civilized settlement, to lo- 
cate among the ferocious and cruel Indians of the wilderness. 



280 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

But all the raw head and bloody bone stories fell frightless 
and lost upon a true and faithful heart — and she resolved to 
go where Miller went and stay where he staid. 

"Aimed with Cupid's darts 
She feared no evil 
From mortal man or demi-devil." 

When the time came to be ready and off, some of the 
friends and neighbors in Ulster, who were opposed to their 
removal, refused to assist in conveying them to their new lo- 
cation, but said they would be ready at all times to move 
them back. The removal, however, proceeded, and was 
conducted on horseback, as they had neither side board nor 
piano forte to transport. Their way was along the path of 
the deer and the huntsman. Without accident they arrived 
at the land of promise, and deposited their rude and scanty 
articles of housekeeping in a shanty constructed of two 
crotches, a pole thereon, and other timbers reaching from 
that and resting upon the ground. In this open hut which 
would have murdered outright any high born dame in Orange 
in our day, they resided a whole year. The situation was 
airy and cool in summer and winter, upon the crown of the 
hill upon the bank of the Walkill, on the road from Mont- 
gomery to Goshen, and afterwards occupied by the old square 
stone house, taken down a few years since by his grandson 
Mr. William Miller, deceased. At the foot of the hill is one 
of the most glorious springs that ever gushed from the earth. 
The location is now owned by his great-grandson Mr. El- 
mer Miller. 

In settling on this spot they planted their shanty directly 
in the vicinity of the natives, and side by side the Indian 
wigwams, which were on the fiat immediately below, with 
whom they lived on terms of friendship. 

Their first summer crops, corn, potatoes, pumpkins and 
water melons, were raised on a spot cleared by the Indians, 
which being low on the margin of the stream, and annually 
overflowed by it, was made rich with the sediment deposited 
by the water and needed little cultivation. The crops 
<-anie fully up to Miller's most sanguine expectations, and 
he stood pleasantly justified in the partial eyes of Jemi- 
ma. The fruits of the season ingathered, the new settlers 
could not do less than pay a filial visit to their friends and 
kin in Ulster; and not only tell of their success and joyful 
prospects, but exhibit the fruits their own hands had produced 



TOWN OF MONTUvyJUERT. 281 

from the earth. During the journey an incident, perfectly 
trifling in itself at this day, yet as it has come down to us 
through the lapse of 125 years, and at the time was looked 
upon as a pleasant joke, and was calculated to light up the 
grave and thoughtful minds of the settlers, with permission 
of the reader we relate it. 

To satisfy the discontented in Ulster, and prove to hjs 
friends his judicious selection of lands, Miller placed two 
water melons in a bag and loaded them upon his horse, de- 
termined to have it in his power to say — "Judge of my lands 
by their produce." On their way, they stopped at old Mr. 
Bruyn's in Shawangunk to refresh themselves and rest their 
horses. Bruyn was fond of a joke, and would perpetrate an 
innocent trick upon his best friend if he could make a little 
fun and sport out of it. While at his house, through the in- 
strumentality of his negro, he substituted two pumpkins for 
the melons, which he carefully laid by to be restored when 
the exchange should be discovered. The guests departed 
and made their way to Mr. Elting's near the Paltze. This 
individual had been very friendly to the parties, and assisted 
them to move to their new location in the spring. On ar- 
riving at his house the horses were unladened for the night, 
the travellers received and entertained. When the subjects 
of land, quality, products, etc., were being mentioned and 
discussed, Miller had his bags and melons brought in for ex- 
hibition. On untying the string and turning them out, lo ! 
the melons had most mysteriously changed into two beautiful 
yellow pumpkins of about the same size. Miller stood con- 
founded for a moment, but Elting knowing that they had 
stopped at Bruyn's, instantly exclaimed that " old Bruyn 
or the devil had been the enchanter." 

Here we leave Mr. Miller among his early friends to re- 
mark that the issue of his marriage with Jemima was one 
child, whose name was John, the father of Johannes Miller, 
of the last generation, and the principal subject of this item 
of our paper. After her death he married Sarah Brill, the 
widow of William Bull of Hamptonburgh, remarkable for 
her great age and the number of her descendents. As Mrs. 
Bull was between sixty and seventy years old at the time of 
this marriage, it bore no fruit. Johannes Miller, the first 
settler, died in 1782, aged about ninety years. 

After our extended notice of this early settler, we proceed 
to observe that his son John Miller was twice married. His 
first wife was Miss Esther Bull, the oldest daughter of Wil- 
liam and Sarah Bull, of the old stone house in Hamptonburgh, 



282 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

the daughter of his father's second wife by a former marriage, 
as above stated. The issue of this marriage was Peggy, 
Jemima, Johannes and William. His second wife was Miss 
Anne Weller, daughter of Henry Weller. The issue of this 
marriage were Henry, David, Levi, Jonathan and Katy. — 
His death was caused by an accident in 1774, the particulars 
of which are not known. He was found dead in the Walkill, 
in the vicinity of his father's residence. The supposition of 
the family was that he was drowned in an attempt to swim 
his horse across the Walkill, though himself an expert swim- 
mer. It is not known whether he or his father built the old 
stone house. He was the first town clerk in 1768, and held 
the office for several years. 

As it respects the character and general reputation of this 
individual, all knowledge and tradition of him unite in say- 
ing that he was an honest, upright Dutchman — a pious, pray- 
ing, conscientious man :— that he was the usual umpire in 
settling the disputes and controversies of the neighborhood, 
and his decisions were generally acquiesced in : — that, in the 
destitute condition of the country as regarded settled minis- 
ters, Miller was frequently called on and sent to pray with the 
sick, and administer words of consolation to the dying, than 
which no more heavenly and responsible office can be dis- 
charged on earth — to give counsel to the dying sinner, which 
may be found true or false at the bar of God in a single mo- 
ment, is no mean office. 

Mr. Henry Crist of the last generation, who lived on the 
bank of the kill opposite the village of Montgomery, when 
about eighteen years of age was taken very sick, and thought 
he was about to die. Miller was sent for to come and see 
him in his critical condition, and impart such instruction and 
consolation as the case might warrant. He came and prayed 
with and for him in high Dutch. Crist recovered, and lived 
to be an old man, and during his life was often heard to say 
that, under God, he attributed his recovery to the prayer and 
intercession of Miller. 

The consequence of this unexpected death was, that it de- 
prived the family of its natural head and protector at a time, 
when, from the age of the children, the disturbed condition 
of the country verging daily to an outbreak with the mother 
country, his protection and presence could be illy dispensed 
with ; and the care of the mother and children instantly de- 
volved principally upon Johannes, the eldest son, then a 
mere lad. He was born in 1760, and we have the pleasure 
and satisfaction to say from all we have learned upon the 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 283 

subject, that the duties of the father were performed by his 
son in a becoming and filial manner, alike beneficial to him- 
self and the family generally. Being thus cast early in life 
upon his own resources, with the responsibility of a family 
to care for and support, doubtless, had its proper influence in 
forming and confirming those habits of carefulness, industry 
and general attention to business for which he was noted in 
after life. The family were Lutheran, and so remained till 
after the Revolution and until all the families of that denom- 
ination of Christians in the settlement at the place, were 
swallowed up by, or merged into other denominations. As 
remarked when speaking of the early settlement of the town, 
this locality was settled by Lutherans, and their church and 
burying grounds were on the lands of Mr. Miller. At this 
day there is not one of that faith, as far as we know, in the 
town at large. The church was blown down shortly after 
the war, and the Lutheran's faith expired with the temple. 

Mr. Johannes Miller was not liberally educated, but in- 
structed only in the elementary department of a slight En- 
glish education. Indeed, when he ought to have been at 
school, he was industriously laboring to 'support his mother 
and sisters ; or on duty as a militia man guarding the fron- 
tiers against the incursions of the Indians. The war contin- 
ued from the time he was sixteen till he was past the age of 
twenty-one, and he had little opportunity to leave home for 
educational purposes. This deficiency of an early education 
he endeavored to supply by after reading and observation. 

For a short period after he was fifteen years of age, he was 
boarded out at the old stone house of William Bull in Hamp- 
tonburgh, where he attended a school taught by an Irishman, 
a^id learned reading, writing, arithmetic, surveying, etc. — 
Soon after the commencement of the war, and when about 
sixteen or seventeen years of age, his brother-in-law, Hen- 
drickVan Keuren of Montgomery, commanded a company 
of militia, in which he was orderly sergeant ; and when it 
was called out into service went with it. Notwithstanding 
the troubled and hostile condition of the country, he had the 
moral courage to enter a service for life, and made Miss Eve 
Mould Mrs. Johannes Miller, on the 17th of March, 1779, 
and moved into the old stone house on the hill at the Walkill. 
Here he had the patriot satisfaction of entertaining a troop of 
horse at his expense a part of one winter for the benefit of the 
country, and of paying a continental tax of three hundred 
and fifty bushels of corn. 

In stature he was of medium height, strongly and firmly 



284 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

made ; his frame muscular and compactly knit together, cal- 
culated for strength and endurance; his face open, manly 
and highly intelligent — of sanguine temperament, with blue 
eyes deeply set in his head. He was of that general appear- 
ance and outline which indicated strength of body and mind, 
with firmness and determination. One faculty he possessed 
in an eminent degree, self-control. This was not wholly 
natural, but, in part, the result of cultivation, and he was 
proud of the degree of perfection to which he had arrived in 
schooling himself. 

Soon after the Avar closed his neighbor Johannes Smith 
proposed to sell his farm of 125 acres, which adjoined him 
on the north, at ten dollars per acre. Miller contracted to 
purchase, but. was unable to meet his contract: — Smith re- 
fused to take paper money, and specie could not then be had 
in the county. He proceeded to New York to borrow the 
amount, but they asked a premium of five per cent, besides 
the legal interest. This he concluded not to pay and re- 
turned without the money. Determined to have the land, 
he issued twenty notes of £'25 each, payable at different pe- 
riods, without interest till due, which Smith received, finding 
he could pay for a farm in Shawangunk with them, and 
which he had agreed to purchase. These notes were all 
paid at maturity when presented, except four which had 
found their way into the pocket of some friend at Hacken- 
sack in New Jersey, and were not presented for several years 
after due. This would be thought a small specimen of raising 
the wind at this day of financial improvement and kite flying, 
yet the reader must remember that Mr. Miller was just of 
age, of no financial experience, an uneducated and illiterate 
young countryman, with no father to guide, no friend to 
counsel. Judging the whole circumstances or the case, we 
think it was an exhibition of tact and enterprise, marked the 
energetic character of his youth, and foreshadowed the ability 
of riper years. 

Feeling the deprivation of a good early education, he re- 
solved to remedy the defect, and became an extensive reader 
on the subjects of theoretic and practical agriculture, and no 
farmer in the county had a more extensive library. Am- 
bitious in this, he was no less so in becoming a politician, 
and his reading extended to that and kindred objects, and 
he settled down firmly in the school of Washington. He was 
early known as a Federalist, and so continued till his party 
was dissolved by the forty thieves, when he become a Whig, 
and so continued till he died. He was a hearty opposer of 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 285 

Vlr. Jefferson, his gun boat system and ultra democracy. — 
Prom 1798 to 1806, politics raged and ran mountain high in 
this county as indeed they did everywhere else in the country, 
and Mr. Miller was deeply and actively engaged in all their 
depths and shallows to sustain his party and accomplish its 
objects. This brought him into fierce contact frequently 
with the heated partizans and leaders of the opposite party. 
In zeal and bigotry the palm was about equally divided be- 
tween them. 

That our narrative may be truthful, and present the shades 
as well as the lignts of character, we are compelled to state 
that the subject of remark was not wholly freedom some of 
the vices of the times in which he lived. One dark night, 
returning from Goshen, where he had been attending a po- 
litical county meeting, he was waylaid, attacked and knocked 
from his horse, though not dangerously injured. From some 
old hostile feeling still subsisting between himself and one 
of his neighbors, and from something which had transpired 
that day in Goshen, he judged who his assailant was, and 
without due reflection called him to the field of honor. Capt. 
William Tremble, of Neeleytown, accepted the invitation, 
but on a meeting of the parties, procured by mutual friends, 
the matter was adjusted to their satisfaction. Capt. Tremble 
was not unlike Mr. Miller, proud, high-minded and honor- 
able, but more impulsive, headstrong and passionate. The 
writer recollects him very well, as he was a near neighbor 
to his father. Those who knew Mr. Miller never doubted 
but that he would have met the crisis like a true man, and 
nobly discharged his duty according to the laws of honor, 
though astonishingly false and desperately wicked. 

This gentleman was very friendly to the manufacturing 
interest of the country and internal improvement by roads 
and canals, and we believe his friendship and the hostility of 
government cost him many thousands of dollars. He was 
mainly instrumental in getting up the cotton factory at Mont- 
gomery, which, if we recollect right, failed before it made a 
yard of cloth or spun a pound of cotton. In 1801 he was 
very active in procuring the charter for the Newburgh and 
Cochecton turnpike, and afterwards in procuring the stock to 
be taken and the road built. For years he was the soul and 
body of the company. 

This charter was among the earliest and most important 
granted in the State, and the directors appointed in the act 
were Robert Bowne, John I)e Wint, William Seymour, Lev, 
Dodge, Johannes Miller, Hugh Walsh, George Clinton, Jan.,"" 



286 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

Jacob Powell, John McAuley, Charles Clinton, William W, 
Sacket, Samuel McCoun and George Gardner. 

In these laudable enterprises he spent much time and 
money, and came out of the concerns with an injured estate. 
The road was sixty miles long ; a large portion through a 
new and mountainous district of country, and covered with 
a poor and sparse population. The people generally, 
throughout the whole extent of the road, were hostile, and 
would not consent to pay toll to travel a public highway. — 
The gates were evaded and pulled down at certain localities 
as fast and often as erected; in doing which the staid and 
sober-minded*citizens of old Ulster were very instrumental. 
For several years the company were continually at law with 
some one, the expenses of which ate up the small receipts of 
the road, and no dividends were declared for many years. — 
The consequence was, the stock fell fifty per cent., I ie orig- 
inal holders sold out and the' Institution passed into other 
hands. The road, however, was a blessing to all except the 
first stockholders. This is the usual fate of all first improve- 
ments. 

We venture to remark that this road was injudiciously laid 
out by the commissioners who executed that important func- 
tion. At that early day in the history of building turnpikes', 
one of their great advantages over the common roads of the 
country was supposed to be in this : — that* they proceeded 
upon a straight line from place to place, whereby distance 
would be materially diminished. The consequence to the 
road in question was, the commissioners laid it out upon the 
true go-ahead principle, up hill and down dale, inclining it 
neither to the right or left. We should judge that they did 
not know that it was as far over as half round a hemisphere. 
A little curve now and then to the north or south would have 
evaded some of the highest elevations and sharpest ascents, 
and while it would have been but little longer, it would have 
been much more pleasant to the traveller, and far easier for 
the cattle that labor and trudge over its now too undulating 
surface. 

Though himself not an educated man, this individual was 
a patron of learning as far as a liberal appropriation of 
means could accomplish it. His own wants and deficiencies 
may have induced and stimulated him to this course. Just 
notions upon the subject doubtless impelled him to supply 
others with that denied to himself. In 1791, with many 
others, he was instrumental in founding; the Montgomery 
Academy, then- but five in the State. Fanner's Hall in Go- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 287 

shcn was one of them, and chartered in 1790. It was no 
mean commendation to the citizens of the county, that out 
of five academies in the State, Orange should have founded 
and nourished two of them. Mr. Miller was the leading and 
efficient man in this enterprise, so valuable and honorable to 
his native town. 

Our ancestors were not literary men, and had as much as 
they could well attend to for the first half century after set- 
tlement, to clear the land, build roads and fences, erect their 
dwellings and support themselves ; and when schools of a 
higher order were needed, the citizens at large, not fully ap- 
preciating their value to the rising generation, gave them a 
cold and unheeded reception. They could not understand, as 
many cannot at this day, how education was necessary to till 
the earth ; and they were content to believe that pigs and 
cattle would grow and thrive as well in winter and summer, 
and the grass grow as high and as green without an academy 
as with one. Go into any locality of the land, in town or 
country, and you will find the same opinion of a high stan- 
dard of education extensively to prevail, and especially that 
farmers do not need it. It is high time the fallacy was ex- 
posed and put under foot, as it is fast being done. In matters 
of education, as in all things else, we do find men occasion- 
ally start up far in advance of the times, who see an enlarged 
benefit in the adoption of certain measures, while those around 
them are blind, and perceive nothing in them that is desira- 
ble or of good report. We hold up to public view as patriots 
of the land and benefactors of the country, all who improve 
their fellow men by direct or indirect means in mind, body 
or estate, or meliorate the condition of society in any way : 
and the citizen who builds and maintains a common school 
equally with him who founds a college — all who are per- 
fecting the endless powers of the human mind, and further- 
ing the temporal interests of a diversified humanity. 

Mr. Miller was not a man of impulses in anything, ant"; 
did not encourage and give aid to a measure to-day, and when 
the fit was off, permit it by neglect to go down to-morrow, to 
be finished at a future period, and that because some new 
project had seized his mind. What he did was executed 
with all his might, sparing neither time nor money, till hie 
object was satisfactorily accomplished : then he adopted it 
as his own, called it his r and took care of it as if it were his- 
own child. Something of this kind seemed essential to his 
well being, and he appeared to be uneasy unless riding & 
hobbv. 



288 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

The old academy, originally constructed of slight materia 
als, like all other things earthly, in process of time, became 
worn out and unfit for the purposes intended, and the trus- 
tees judged it prudential to replace it by a new one. The 
irreat uuestion Avas, How could it be done? Where could 
the funds be procured'? At this time (1817) the State was 
muting the quit-rents when the inhabitants of the patents 
asked for it. Mr. Miller, knowing they remained uncom- 
mutcd on two or three patents in the county, and ever fruit- 
ful in expedients, suggested the propriety of asking the 
.legislature to grant them for the erection of a new academy. 
The thought was a happy one and instantly adopted by the 
trustees. The application was made and a law was passed 
in their favor, which cancelled the last patents in this county 
from all future payment of quit rents, and was the means of 
building the Monigomery Academy. This grant amounted 
to $2,000, and the trustees undertook to raise $1,500 by 
subscription, which they accomplished. 

The building of the academy and raising the $1500 be- 
came hobbies with Mr. Miller, and he rode them night and 
•day. As connected with raising this money, we relate an 
anecdote calculated to exhibit his cool perseverance and in- 
domitable nature of character in a small affair, when hi? 
heart had been firmly set to accomplish an object. The sub- 
scription papers were prepared by Air. Miller, and made in the 
'form of a little book, convenient to carry in the pocket, and 
put into the hands of several of the trustees. Mr. Borland 
and ■the writer kept theirs in their office, where Mr. Miller 
was in. the habit of calling every day. Some short time after 
•they bad been in circulation, lie called, and while conversing 
upon our respective success in raising funds, Mr. H. came in, 
a genfleman of wealth," and a bachelor who resided about six 
miles from the village of Montgomery in the town of New 
Windsor. After he was cleverly seated Mr. Miller leisureh 
took out of his pocket a la roe pocket book, put on bis glasses. 
deliberately untied the string and produced his subscription 
list. Though the fishing ground was properly covered by 
Borland & Eager, yet he chose to spring his net and try 
his luck. He addressed himself to Mr. H., saying that the 
old academy was worn out — that it bad done good service in 
the infancy of the country — that the interests of education re- 
quired that it should be replaced by a new and larger one. 
which would confer honor on the town and county — that the 
funds for the purpose being small, the trustees threw them- 
selves and the cause of education upon the patriotism and' 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. .289 

liberality of their fellow citizens to raise about $1,500, which 
they expected to do in a few months — that every gentleman 
who had been asked had willingly subscribed according to 
his means — and that he was happy in having the opportuni- 
ty to present him with the subscription list thus early, as 
they wished all the large subscribers to sign first, etc., — and 
at the same time handed him the little book to see what 
others had signed and what he would. Mr. H., rather slow- 
ly and with apparent reluctance, received it, and after a mo- 
ment's careless examination, fumbling it over, handed it 
back, saying that such matters were out of his line of busi- 
ness — that he had no children to educate, and if he had, the 
academy was too remote from his residence to avail himself 
of its benefits, and asked to be excused. Mr. Miller received 
his little book with much courtesy, and expressed himself 
under many obligations to Mr. H. for his politeness in look- 
ing over it, deliberately put it back in the pocket book, which 
he tied up and replaced in his pocket. After Mr. H. left, 
Mr. Miller was reminded of his ill success, and admonished 
that he would get nothing in that quarter. The reply was, 
" Never mind, gentlemen, I will see Mr. H. again on the sub- 
ject." Mr. H. was a client of the office, engaged in no business, 
and very frequently in town. Some two or three weeks after- 
wards, Mr. Miller and Mr. H. accidentally met in the same 
office, and after the usual compliments of the day were 
passed, Mr. Miller deliberately put on his specs., drew from 
his pocket the large pocket book, untied it and produced his 
subscription list, and addressing himself to Mr. H. recited the 
same identical speech previously delivered, word for word, 
sentence for sentence, as if stereotyped for the occasion, with 
this addition — that he was very sorry he had not had the 
pleasure of presenting to him the subscription at an earlier 
day, as he wished certain friends of influence to head the 
list. A spectator would never have suspected that Mr. 
Miller had ever seen Mr. H. before on the subject, and Mr. 
H. being a modest man of few words, said nothing to contra- 
dict such an impression. The book was returned accompa- 
nied with about the same reply as before made. The scene 
was truly rich. Mr. Miller was grave and serious as possi- 
ble, but intent upon accomplishing his object, by a certain 
mode of procedure, while he was dealing with a shy old 
fish, equally determined not to touch the bait. You could al- 
most see the workings of the minds of the parties, while the 
witnesses with great difficulty saved themselves from burst- 
ing into downright laughter. After Mr. H. left, Mr. Miller 



200 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

was again reminded of his ill success, and that " we told you 
so." His answer was as before, and that he would see Mr. 
H. again upon the subject, as he appeared not to have made 
up his mind fully upon it. The other trustees perceiving 
how the matter was progressing between the part it's, con- 
cluded not to interfere, but to await the issue under tbc be- 
lief that it was a hopeless case. Not long after this second 
interview, business again caused these gentlemen to meet for 
the third time, and Mr. Miller, with all the gravity and po- 
liteness conceivable, produced his big and little book as be- 
fore, and went over the same speed), word for word, with 
the least possible variation. When through, he handed the 
subscription list over to Mr. H., who received it, rose from 
his chair and said to the writer, " I wish to speak with you." 
We passed into another room, when he asked the loan often 
dollars, protesting that he might as well pay first as last, as 
Mr. Miller dunned him every time they met. The money 
was loaned, the subscription made, and the laugh turned off 
on others with some effect, who united in it with great grati- 
fication. This, though a smell incident, shows the nature 
and determined character of the individual. He knew from 
the nature of man that the donation was only to be had by 
such a course, and that in the end Mr. H., to get rid of trouble, 
would purchase his peace. The whole affair is fresh in the 
recollection of the writer, inculcates a useful lesson in the 
transactions of private and public affairs, and is based on the 
great principles of human nature. No time, place or circum- 
stance would have prevented the presentation of this list, till 
he had accomplished his object — no word of denial amount- 
ing to absolute refusal, accompanied with personal insult, 
would have deterred or driven Miller from his purpose. Cool 
and collected, he had made as it were a contract, with him- 
self to carry his point, and being well versed in the school of 
human nature, he knew with moral certainty the chances 
of success would be favorable in the long run. 

In our notice we must not omit to state that our subject 
was a practical farmer, and in his neighborhood did all that 
he could to advance that interest by testing various agricul- 
tural theories. His lands were among the most beautiful in 
the county, and laid on both sides of the road leading to 
Goshen, between the village of Montgomery and theWalkill. 
This gentleman was an early friend of agriculture, arts and 
manufactures,; for by looking into the old act, passed 1793, 
incorporating the Society instituted for the State of New 
York " for the promotion of agriculture, arts and manufac- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 291 

tures," he was one of the petitioners asking for the act of 
incorporation. Some of these gentlemen were Robert R. 
Livingston, Samuel L. Mitchell, Ezra L'Hommedieu, James 
G. Graham, Matthew Clarkson, George Clinton, Egbert 
Benson, Richard Varick, with several others from various 
parts of the State, and John Nicholson, Andrew King, John 
Barber, Joseph Barber, Johannes Miller and Wm. Thompson, 
fronPOrange County. This was the earliest attempt made 
in this State by individuals to promote the subjects above 
mentioned, and the beginning of those public acts subse- 
quently passed by the legislature to cherish and more firmly 
promote the same great interests. 

At one time he was carried away with the theory that all 
the food of plants was in the atmosphere, and the earth im- 
parted nothing ; and that all that was necessary to ensure 
abundant crops was to stir up the land frequently and make 
it fine as possible, that the atmospheric gases could penetrate 
it. This was pretty well tested for several years, and until 
the increasing poverty of the land and its dwarfed products 
admonished that, it was best to fall back upon the old custom 
of manuring ; the atmosphere alone being too etherial to 
produce and support heavy vegetation. On this point, how- 
ever, he was not alone for he erred in good company, by fol- 
lowing the lead of great and learned men, whose theories 
are in the books. Mr. Miller's error was principally injurious 
to himself, for we do not recollect a farmer in his neighbor- 
hood who had any faith in the doctrine. L'Hommedieu y 
Livingston and Dr. Mitchell of this state were of this agricul- 
tural school, but the Hood of light, which has, within a few 
years past, been shed upon the nature and relations of organ- 
ized and unorganized matter, the constitutions of animals, 
plants and soils, has exploded the aerial theory, and driven 
the farmer back to consult the condition and quality of his 
soil. 

Mr. Miller was the last president of the Agricultural Soci- 
ety of Orange formed in 1818, and addressed Gen. La Fayette 
in Nevvburgh in 1825 on the subject of agriculture in a short 
and pertinent speech. This was appropriate, as the General 
was known, both at home and abroad, as a practical farmer. 
We were present and witnessed the transactions of the eve- 
ning, and while responding to the address, thefeyes of the 
old patriot Frenchman fairly danced and laughed in his 
head, as he spoke of the honor done him on a subject ever 
near his heart, and to which he had devoted years of appli- 
cation. 



192 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

In this country there is no better test of a man's patriotism 
than that he bore arms to defend her during the war of the 
Revolution. This evidence we refer to and claim for Mr. 
Miller. When asked and advised to share in the late, but 
well-earned bounties of his country, for military services per- 
formed in the militia during the war, he refused, and would 
not apply for a pension, on the ground that he was young 
when the services were rendered, the dangers and hardships 
of which were now unfelt and forgotten — that they were of 
little service to the country, and that while as well off in the 
world as then, he could not consent at so late a day to receive 
a compensation for them. This was high-minded and hon- 
orable in a patriot citizen. The soldiers of that war have 
not been, nor cannot be paid, by the pittance doled out to 
them by the government. Services in which men have to 
abandon their families and homes, fritter away by piecemeal, 
and finally break down their constitutions, in which they 
peril their lives every day in various ways, cannot be ade- 
quately compensated for in money. The great principle of 
gratitude and patriot benevolence, warm gushing from the 
heart, must come in to swell the amount and perfect the 
payment. 

In this connection it is proper to remark that the venerable 
and aged widow and relict of Mr. Miller, by the persuasion 
of friends, is now in the receipt of her husband's revol- 
utionary services, as they are meted out to her by the 
country. 

Though brought up in the Lutheran church, of all Christian 
denominations, Mr. Miller preferred the Presbyterian as most 
republican and independent. Among his fellow citizens, 
whether in or out of a church connection, no one gave a 
more cheerful or bountiful support to its institutions. The 
Sabbath found him regularly in attendance at the house of 
God. It was his pride and pleasure to provide for the tem- 
poral wants of the church and minister, for whom his purse 
and personal exertions were ever ready at their call. He 
neither worshipped mammon in his external nor internal 
courts, for money in his view was designed for general cir- 
culation, to benefit all who could honestly or honorably pro- 
cure it, and not to be hoarded. It is believed that no amount 
would have been deliberately placed at interest by him for 
the purpose of gain and accumulation, till all reasonable 
ways and means had been exhausted for its expenditure. — 
This estimate of money was the basis of his private and pub- 
lic liberality, most pleasantly shared in by the members of 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 298 

his household, which permitted no one to leave his door 
without a satisfaction beyond expectation. In this respect 
his lady was the true exponent of himself, and through a 
long matrimonial life — longer than usually falls to mortals — 
she was in reality a crown to her lord. Her virtues were not 
of that showy character which seek applause, and self grati- 
fication the ruling principle, but shown most conspicuously 
in her own domain, the domestic circle — where, though quiet 
and unobtrusive, all admitted she was the presiding goddess. 
This charitable feeling and good will manifested itself in the 
most agreeable manner to the children in the vicinity. His 
carriage, winter and summer, went as regularly down to the 
village as if it had been a daily stage in the employ of gov- 
ernment. On these occasions, his vehicle would be crowded 
with the school childen, thick as they could set or stand, and 
appeared as if a swarm of bees had settled upon it, all teeming 
with life and animation. He thus literally took them up and 
carried them in his arms. This may be looked upon as a 
small fact to write in a book by the churlish, proud or 
haughty citizen, but in our opinion, it opens a wider door to 
inspect his character than many actions deemed more import- 
ant. We close our observations on this head with the gene- 
ral remark, that there never was a good natured and virtuous 
man but was fond of children, and there never was a bad or 
ill tempered one that was. 

Mr. Miller, by the request of friends and neighbors, was 
appointed to lay the corner stone of the First Presbyterian 
Church in the village of Montgomery. He was entitled to 
this honor, not only by virtue of his age and respectable 
standing, but by exertions and liberal donations towards its 
erection. This was no ordinary or common seivice when 
performed, as on the occasion referred to, by appropriate 
Christian solemnities. What more sacred or heart inspiring- 
scene can be witnessed, than the erection of a temple in 
open day, before the world and in the face of heaven, in 
which that God is to be invoked and worshipped, in whom 
we live and move and have our being? To be an actor in 
such a scene is a high privilege in the sight of man, but no 
tongue 5 can tell the prevailing nature of such a deed till he 
shall see, if happily he may, the heavenly scroll enrolled 
with its ten thousand names of sons and daughters new born 
there. But we forbear : the theme is too high and holy for 
unclean hands. 

Mr. Miller died December 17, 1834, aged seventy-four. He 
had but two children who grew up to age, John and Maria. 



294 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

John married Miss Oliver, daughter of Judge Oliver, 
of Marbletown, Ulster county; and Maria, David Hunter, 
Esq., of Bloomingburgh. This family is in the town in the 
sixth generation. 

Reader of this simple narrative ! suppose we pause a mo- 
ment on this page of our paper to reflect and ask the question, 
" How stands the account in public estimation between such 
a man, and the creature of mere dollars and cents, who has 
departed also to his final abode? What did the latter do, 
and what the nature and items of his cheerless account?" He 
spent his days, nights and years — yes, three score and ten of 
them till one foot was in the grave, and the other lifted to 
follow, in greedy anxiety and pursuit of wealth. He accom- 
plished the longing desires of his heart, and treasured up 
one hundred thousand dollars, more or less. In the mean- 
time he stinted himself, never spent five dollars to entertain 
his friends, rejoice the heart, or make society around him 
pleasant and agreeable. The trembling, shivering feet of 
the needy and heart broken were rudely turned away from 
his door, and he never enjoyed the luxury of a poor man's 
blessing. The merchant, mechanic, laborer and domestic 
were chaffered with and screwed down to the last cent, 
which was either withheld or paid unwillingly. The lie of 
hard times, great expense and large payments for this char- 
ity and that public object were ever ready on his tongue. — 
Improvements, necessary and ornamental, to benefit the 
place that nourished and enlarged his garner, when he was 
unknown and in poverty — all moved harmoniously forward 
by the cheer and good will of his neighbors, while he slunk 
away into the privacy of his dwelling, alone and solitary. 
The slumbers of the night were dangerous and unwelcome, 
lest some felon should enter and despoil his dwelling. At 
last he died, and the mourners went not "about the streets," 
for he lived unrespected and died unregretted. He laid no 
basis in the hearts and affections of his neighbors for a grate- 
ful remembrance ; dollars and cents were his gods, and those 
only he worshipped. The next generation rise up and en- 
quire for his deeds that adorned society and benefited the 
world around him, and ask for the institutions in church and 
state founded by the expenditure of his wealth, that they 
may honor his memory and chant his praise. Alas! he toiled 
for heirs he knew not who, died, was buried, is forgotten, and 
his deeds perished with him. Who dare say that the Fates 
were unjust? Header! we would rather risk our way to 
kindness and respect while living, and to Heaven and grate- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 295 

ful remembrance when dead, along the broad but beaten 
highway of hard but honest poverty, with now and then a 
mite in the proper treasury, than through the narrow, screw- 
ing, tortuous by-path of grinding avarice. We have but one 
life to live and that is probationary ; we can take nothing 
with us but a name ; and is it not best so to act and spend 
our days as to earn and insure by our means and condition 
the joint approbation of God and man 1 The things are pos- 
sible and not inconsistent. We know that many may call 
our aged and departed friend, whose life we have briefly and 
imperfectly noticed, indiscreet, perhaps a fool, for expending 
his time and means upon subjects from which he received 
210 immediate or visibly returning benefit ; yet we think we 
see, as we look along down the pathway of coming time, 
thousands rising up to honor his name and bless his memory. 
That vision of itself, if you and I could make it our own, 
would exceedingly outweigh the value of this world's goods, 
and is emphatically that for which the good man lives. 

Mr. Fisher. — We recollect an old gentleman by this 
name, who lived at Neelytown on the land of William Eager 
in a small revolutionary house in a field ; and we should do 
violence to our early recollections if we omitted to mention 
him in our paper. His occupation is not recollected. He 
was a straight, genteel, elderly person, and wore a cocked 
hat, a fashion at the time still preserved and persevered in 
by a few of the old gentlemanly school. He kept a favorite 
cat, which, though generally well bred, would occasionally 
trespass upon and break over the rules of domestic decorum. 
We know not the Christian profession of Mr. Fisher, but it 
seemed he was in the habit of asking a blessing over the 
scanty provisions of his table. This, of itself, 'showed a 
grateful heart and spoke a volume in his favor. One day, as 
he sat down to partake of his frugal meal an unoccupied 
chair was accidentally placed near the table and on the same 
side at which he sat. Mr. Fisher began to ask a blessing, 
and at that instant the cat jumped up on the vacant chair, 
and as the grace was being pronounced, raised up, placed 
one foot on the table, and with a doubtful hesitation thrust 
forward the other towards the dish of meat which was just 
within her reach. Fisher, though thus solemnly engaged, 
saw the crisis coming, and prepared to meet it or lose his 
meal. As the blessing ran on, Fisher kept an eye fixed on 
the cat, and at the same time drew up his right arm, with 
the fist firmly clenched, ready to assault the intruder. The 
suspicious and forward movement of the cat, the fierce glare 



£96 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

of Fisher's eye, the drawing up of the arm and quickened 
enunciation of the blessing, all ran on together for an in- 
stant ; and as he pronounced "Amen," just in the nick of 
time, struck the unsuspecting cat off the chair and across his 
cabin, accompanied with the blessing — "Take that, you lit- 
tle, thieving d — 1." 

John Blake. — This gentleman was the son of John 
Blake of Neelytown, heretofore mentioned as an old settler 
at the place and of Irish descent. Mr. Blake was not an ed- 
ucated man, but received only such elementary instruction 
as the common schools of the country offered after the war 
and before 1790. Though the branches then taught were 
few in number, yet instruction was thorough in reading, 
writing, arithmetic, grammar, surveying, etc. At the time 
of the division of Ulster county and the formation of Orange, 
Mr. Blake was Deputy Sheriff of Ulster and resided at Kings- 
ton. After this, and when his official period of service ex- 
pired, he returned to Neelytown. 

In 1800 he was appointed Sheriff of the new county of Or- 
ange, served its term and executed the office to the general 
satisfaction of his fellow citizens. In 1806 he was elected by 
the Republican party — the class of politicians to which he 
had ever been attached since entering into public life — to 
represent the county in the general Congress of the United 
States. Some years subsequently he was again elected to 
the same office, and on both those occasions, his votes were 
cast agreeably to the wishes of his constituents. Mr. Blake 
was very modest and diffident, and therefore never trusted 
himself to speak in public while a member. Montgomery, 
his native town, had unlimited confidence in his judgment 
and discretion as a town officer, and so well were they satisfied 
with the care he took of their interest in the county board of 
supervisors, that he held the office for fifteen years in suc- 
cession, and until he requested to be excused as a personal 
favor. While a member of the board they were engaged in 
settling the ratio of valuation of the respective towns in the 
county, and those members who knew the quality of land on 
public highway from Montgomery to Goshen and the Valley 
of the Walkill, were of the opinion that Montgomery was 
being rated altogether too low. They inferred the whole 
town, then including Crawford and reaching west to the 
Shawangunk kill, was of the same equally good grade of 
land, notwithstanding the assurances of Mr. Blake to the 
contrary. On the adjournment of the board, before com- 
pleting their annual business, Mr. Blake invited one of the 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 297 

board to ride home with him, who had been among the most 
clamorous in favor of the high standard of Montgomery- 
farms. At this time the hills beyond the village of Mont- 
gomery were but slightly cleared up and badly cultivated, 
and a large district of the town for several miles in an unen- 
viable agricultural condition. On leaving Goshen, Mr. 
Blake, without disclosing his object, saw proper to leave the 
ordinary good highway leading homeward, conveyed his 
unsuspecting guest through and over the district of town 
above referred to. Before they arrived at the end of their 
ride the supervisor candidly remarked that he did not before 
believe there was so much rough and worthless land in the 
town, and that he was now satisfied Montgomery was rated 
full high at the value proposed by Mr. Blake. 

Under this valuation the town remained a number of 
years ; no one attempting to change it — under the belief it 
was reasonably high. 

In addition to the offices named we further stale that he 
was several times returned a member to serve in the Assembly 
of the state ; for many years a Judge of the common pleas 
of the county and Justice of the peace. 

Mr. Blake married the daughter of William Eager of Nee- 
lytown, and died leaving a large family to mourn and 
numerous relatives to lament his death. He died after a 
short illness in an attack of tyyhus fever. 

From this brief statement the reader may infer that Mr. 
Blake must have been a man of superior talents in some re- 
spects, to have held these various and responsible offices. It 
was not so. He was as destitute of art and intrigue in the 
procurement of official station as any man probably could be; 
and if such tilings depended upon his own exertions, he 
would have remained his life time a private citizen. The 
hold that be held on public confidence was inspired by the 
wide spread honesty, uprightness and general integrity of his 
character. In these respects he was well known and appre- 
ciated by the county at large. They knew him to be trust- 
worthy as a man and a politician, and that these interests 
would be safe when committed to his keeping. In all these 
respects he was emphatically an honest man, and as the 
poet says, " the noblest work of God." 

If there be a blessing in store for ''the peace maker," then 
our departed fiiend may be called " a child of God." No 
one in the county was more frequently selected a referee to 
settle controversies at law, or oftener called on to arbitrate 
matters of difference between neighbors. These offices, 



298 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

though small matters in the actions of a man's life time, 
still they go to show and make up public opinion, and the 
confidence community had, not only in his honesty, but his 
ability to serve them. Such men are the reliable guardians 
of the state, and noble examples for imitation in every age. 
Manhood, and youth more especially, may learn valuable 
lessons from this short note of the life of an honest man. 

In person Mr. Blake was large, tall, very erect and inclined 
to be fleshy, with small hands and feet. His complexion 
was dark ; features, coarse, strong and sedate, expressive of 
a calm serene mind, and of great good will. He was fond of 
walking as an exercise, and when he went to the village of 
Montgomery, which he frequently did on private and public 
business, usually performed it on foot with a staff in his hand. 

Mr. Blake aspired to no higher station than that of a good 
practical farmer, which he was. His relations with the so- 
ciety around him, whether of a temporal or spiritual char- 
acter, were all sedulously and justly performed ; and while 
he was a kind and obliging neighbor, no large family of do- 
mestics and children lived under a government more affec- 
tionate and paternal. 

Christian Coon. — This old man is strongly associated 
with our boyish days ; for he was a soldier, tinker and 
trumpeter — any one of which occupations was calculated to 
interest the feelings and imagination of a youthful mind. 
He had been in the war, and could produce the loudest blasts 
from his wonderful brazen horn : and that was enough to 
seduce the affections and fasten admiration upon his charac- 
ter as a hero. 

This man, we believe, was one of the Hessian troops 
hired by England of the Prince of Hesse Cossel, and sent 
out here to fight her battles and reduce the rebels to subjec- 
tion. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Trenton, De- 
cember 26, 1776, where many of his fellows shared the same 
fate, and subsequently entered the American service and re- 
mained in the army till the war ended. In some engagement 
he received a sabre cut on the arm, for which he drew a 
pension during life, without which he could not have sup- 
ported himself. We name this old patriot and friend for the 
purpose of relating two incidents in his after life, both of 
which are calculated to illustrate his course and true military 
bearing when far advanced in life. 

At the time we speak, of there was an association of young- 
men, some residing in the western part of this town (now 
Crawford) and others in Shawangunk, Ulster county, who 



TOWM OF MONTGOMERY. 299 

had banded themselves together to commit all kinds of tricks 
and perpetrate every species of deviltry, which they fully 
executed with impunity for several years. The longer the 
association continued their operations, the bolder and more 
pestilent they became — till, finally, they did deeds Avorthy 
indictment and prison. To relate them would unreasonably 
extend our paper, of which brevity is its characteristic. 

Among other subjects for fun and deviltry, two members 
of the club — which, by the way, went by the descriptive 
name of the u Hopewell Club " or " Hell fire Crew " — se- 
lected our old friend and trumpeter Coon ; in which, how- 
ever, as things turned out, waked up the wrong customer. — 
We do not recollect the offence done him or the trick perpe- 
trated ; but, whatever it was, roused the dormant energies 
and lion courage of the old soldier, which had slumbered 
within him for a quarter of a century, and he seized his mus- 
ket, captured his assailants, and at the point of the bayonet 
drove them like craven dogs before him, on the public high- 
way for several miles, till he came 'to the first Justice, to 
whom he delivered them up. The officer received them, 
penned up like so many cattle in the corner of ahorseshed. 
This heroic act of trumpeter Coon, while it gained him much 
credit and applause, derided and deeply mortified the prison- 
ers, and fairly turned the tables of fun and trick upon them- 
selves. The cream of the joke was, the musket was not 
loaded, nor had itbeenin 4 twenty years, and about as liable to 
go off and injure a person as if it had neither lock, stook nor 
barrel. The young men were asked why they did not run 
off and escape. They answered "we did not know what 
the old devil would do." In justice to Coon, we can say this 
act of his,'did^more to put down the tricks and evil doings of 
the crew than any other one incident. 

Many years after this, a man by the name of E. Truesdeli 
challenged him to fight a duel. It was accepted by him as 
a matter of favor. The friends of the parties appointed the 
time of meeting ; the place was the bridge across the Walkill 
at Montgomery. When all was ready and arranged the 
parties fired, and Truesdeli fell covered with blood. The 
friends and spectators crowded around him to learn the mor- 
tal nature of the wound. Coon, in the pride of station and 
dignity of a sentinel on duty, never moved from his position ; 
and when his friends approached him, asked if Truesdeli 
wanted another shot. He was told that Truesdeli was mor- 
tally wounded, would die, and he must escape ; but the old 
soldier cooly replied, " It Avas of his own seeking," and re- 



300 TOWN Or MONTGOMERY. 

fused to flee; and in a few minutes, with the dignity of a 
well trained soldier in discharge of a high duty, left the 
ground amidst the huzzas and congratulations of the multi- 
tude, to return home and cool his Revolutionary fire with a 
few blasts of his trumpet. Without Coon's knowledge, the 
arms used were not loaded, and the blood was provided from 
a butcher's stall in the vicinity. 

Arthur Parks died 11th of August, 1806 in the 70th 
year of his age. He was a member of the Provincial Con- 
gress, a member of the Convention that formed the State 
Constitution, and during eleven years he represented the 
middle district in the Senate. He lived and died a sincere 
patriot, Christian and friend of man. 

James Ward. — How revolting to the feelings and unex- 
pected oftentimes are the mutations of human affairs ! You 
may own lands and houses — be a benefactor of your race — 
may be callad blessed in your day and generation — direct 
your children, dear as the tenderest feelings of the heart can 
make them, to deposit your remains in a sepulchre hewn in 
the solid rock — still, your dust may not be safe from violation. 

As before remarked, Mr. Ward built the first flour mill in 
the town of Montgomery, and, as if by magic, threw a bridge 
three hundred feet long across the rapid current of the Wal- 
kill ; neither of which was a common work at that early 
day, when means were small, the population sparse, work- 
men few and difficult to be had. Less benefits than these 
have decreed a man a public benefactor, crowned him with 
bays or erected a monument to his memory. Upon a high 
and gravelly bank overlooking the scene of his early labors, 
and verdant as grass could make it, a spot sequestered from 
publio view, on the premises attached to the mill in question, 
were deposited the earthly remains of Mr. and Mrs. Ward. — 
Side by side they laid, as they fondly hoped to appear, when 
called from dust to judgment. While their ashes were gently 
pressed by the green sward of the hill top, and the raven 
wing of the tempest beat over them, the loud howl of the 
storm as it boomed through the heavens, broke not the deep 
long sleep of their graves. But, by the silent and stealthy 
steps of human agency, the encroachments of half a century, 
the green bank which covered them was clean removed, and 
the graves yielded up their aged and venerable tenants. — 
Though shut up in darkness the worms of the earth had vis- 
ited them and done their duty. This was some twelve years 
since in the early spring, and for days the popular gaze 
rested upon these mortal remains. No eye took pity, no 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 301 

heart had compassion ; and this day, as then, they are de- 
nied the rights of sepulchre. 

Gathered up and thrown into a rude box for present safety 
they lie, rocked by the eternal vibration of the mill upon 
the same site where Ward erected his. Too soon, indeed, 
are private and public benefactions forgotten, and with them 
the benefactors themselves. Though both ought to be held 
in grateful remembrance long as memory holds her throne, 
yet facts of every day occurrence admonish, that we are won- 
derfully forgetful, wrapt in self and selfish considerations; 
and like creatures of a day, supremely ruled and directed by 
the fleeting moments as they pass. That we may be torn 
from our graves — exposed to public gaze — the unsightly ob- 
jects of rude, and thoughtless remark — and our bones so 
wisely made, desecrated in the very presence of kindred and 
friends, in a virtuous and sensitive mind are calculated to add 
double horrors to the pangs of anticipated death, in its mild- 
est and gentlest form, not to be contemplated without a dread 
anxiety for its future realities. 

We crave pardon for this and other digressions from thf> 
straight line of remark ; for we look on them as favorite and 
choice spots for reflection along the dull and heavy pathway 
of our paper, and we could not resist the temptation to linger 
for a moment around this one. 

Since writing this paper, we have been informed that the 
bones referred to have been respectfully and decently interred 
in the grave yard of the Reformed Dutch Church at Mont- 
gomery by the Messrs. Luquer, the present owners of the mill. 
Nothing gives us greater satisfaction than this intelligence; 
for these gentlemen are notoriously of kind and humane dis- 
position, and naturally inclined to perform such a feeling 
and sacred office. In what is said upon the subject we dis- 
claim any reflection upon any one, for we were equally in 
fault with others. 

Teunis Van Arsdell. — This gentleman lived near the 
Goodwill Church, and was at Fort Montgomery when taken 
in 1777. The English entered the Fort after dark, and all 
the American troops escaped that could find egress from the 
place. As they entered the Fort they continue d the slaugh- 
ter by bayoneting our troops. At the time when Van Ars- 
dell attempted to escape the entrance was pretty well blocked 
up ; but in a few minutes, as an English soldier held a mil- 
itiaman bayoneted against the wall, he let himself down, 
and slyly passed through between the legs of the British soldier 
and escaped. He then took off his clothes and tied them 



302 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

with the gun upon his back, swam the river and afterwards 
returned home in safety. 

Col. Francis Barber.—" Fishkill, February 7, 1783.— 
It is with pain and regret that we mention the death of Lieut. 
Col. Barber, who was unfortunately killed at camp on tbe 
11th of January: The circumstances which led to the un- 
happy catastrophe, we are told, are as follows : Two soldiers 
were cutting down a tree ; at the instant he came riding by 
it was falling, which he did not observe till they desired him 
to take care ; but the surprise was so sudden and embarassed 
his ideas so much, that he reined his horse to the unfortu- 
nate spot where the tree fell, which tore his body in a 
shocking manner, and put an immediate period to his exis- 
tence." 

In Barber's Historical Collections this is told under the 
head of Dutchess county, as if it happened there ; whereas it 
took place near Snake Hill in Orange, while the camp was 
there. He was led into the error by finding it in a paper of 
that county. Col. Francis Barber was one of the most ele- 
gant young- men that wore the continental uniform, and the 
son of old Patrick Barber of Neelytown. The whole county, 
from far and near, attended his funeral — especially from the 
towns of New Windsor and Montgomery — and deeply la- 
mented the death of their friend and neighbor as well as of 
the gallant soldier. 

William Eager, first settler. — This individual came from 
Monaghan, Ireland, about the year 1728 ; went into West- 
chester count)'', where he staid thirteen years, and then re- 
moved to Neelytown. At this clay very little is known of 
him. He married Elsa McGrada in Ireland, and had two 
children before emigration, and one (William) born on the 
passage. The McGrada family were originally Scotch, but 
had lived perhaps one hundred years in Ireland before the 
time we speak of. He lived and died on the farm where 
his son William and his grand son Thomas Eager lived and 
died. His children were : 

Mary, who married Wm. Monell ; Elizabeth, who married Ja.«. McMunn ; 
'Thomas, " Martha McNeil ; Ann, " John Davis; 

William, " Miriam Butler; Jane, " John Harlaw ; 

Ann Bulk 

William Eager (the second). — The reader will pardon 
us for a little prolixity on the subject of ancestors. As pre- 
viously remarked, William Eager, son of the first settler of 
that name, was thirteen years old when the family came to 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 303 

Neelytown. He went to school but one quarter ; and that, 
we presume, was while he tarried in Westchester, for in this 
vicinity there were no public schools at the time- 
In person, he was tall and spare ; of a fair complexion, 
with a fine Roman nose which gave character to his whole 
face ; in temper, quick and self willed, like a flash of gun- 
powder and all was over. Still he was grave and thought- 
ful, and we never heard him laugh. Ife married, quite early 
in life, Miriam Butler ; by whom he had one child, and both 
died early. Afterwards he married Ann, the daughter of 
William and Sarah Bull of Hamptonburgh, then in the town 
of Goshen. Nine children were the fruits of this marriage ; 
all of whom grew up and were married, except Anthony, 
who died young. . The descendents of the first settler are 
now very numerous and widely dispersed. Some of them 
arc of the fifth generation from him. 

William married Elizabeth, daughter of Sam'l Watkins, Esq. of Walkill ; 

Thomas married Margaret, daughter of John Blake, Esq. of Neelytown ; 

Sarah married Capt. dairies McBride of Neelytown; 

Elsie married John Blake, Esq. oiNeelytovvn ; 

Mary married Charles Bodine of Montgomery ; 

Esther married Samuel Dunning of Walklil ; 

Ellinor married Mr. Philip Mowbray of Walkill; 

Ann married Elijah McMunn of Montgomery ; 

Anthony died young. 

All of whom are dead, except Mrs. Bodine and Mrs. 
Mowbray. 

With the reader's permission we will cast the descent of 
this family through a few generations; not because there is 
any virtue in it, nor yet to find an ancient and honorable 
ancestry, but as a pure matter of curiosity, — having the ma- 
terials at hand for the purpose, and to link ourselves fast to 
the Emerald Isle, and trace a descent from a land of heroes. 
It will be found in the appendix if made. 

Mr. Eager, during the war of the Revolution was an ar- 
dent Whig, though he could take no active part in its prose- 
cution or defence, in consequence of an accident which lamed 
him for life. At that day, in clearing up the land it was cus- 
tomary to girdle the large trees and let them stand, to be ta- 
ken down at leisure. This process killed them, and by 
standing they injured tin; land but little. Passing beneath 
one during a high wind, a part of it was blown down, fell 
upon him and broke or injured the cords of the toes on one 
foot, so that ever after, while walking, the tees would drop 
on raising the foot, and be was compelled to use a cane, 



304 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

Though he could not be a soldier himself, he highly esteem- 
ed those who were, and gave them the heartiest encourage- 
ment of final triumph and success. Being an Irishman he 
cherished no especial good will towards England. No one 
rejoiced more at the victories achieved by the army than he; 
and the battles of the country, the brave conduct of the 
Whigs, and the rascally, dishonorable acts of the tories were 
frequent and fruitful themes of remark and conversation 
through the after part of his life. He was a person of grave 
manner and few words. His conversation consisted of tart 
remarks, plain and to the point — every sentence embodying 
an aphorism, a rule of life. He always talked what he 
thought, and therefore unless you knew the temper and 
internal good will of the man, he was apt to offend by his 
open and undisguised mode of expression. This was calcu- 
lated to get him into trouble when least expected. 

When the militia of the county were at Forts Montgomery 
and Clinton in 1776-7, Mr. Eager went down occasionally to 
see them, as many of his neighbors and townsmen were 
there at the time. When he went he was in the habit of ta- 
king things for the use and comfort of the soldiers, such aa 
bread, straw, etc. On one occasion he was invited by Gen- 
eral Clinton to dine with the officers ; and while at dinner he 
heard some of the officers speaking jocosely of the gallantry 
of a brother officer. From the remarks made he gathered 
the nature of the incident and the person alluded to. Mr. 
Eager had previously heard the story, and injudiciously ask- 
ed if such an one, naming the officer (General Putnam) was 
the individual referred to. 

The cream of the matter was, the General was present in 
the room and so near as to hear the question ; and beings 
somewhat offended at the publicity of the affair, deemed it 
personal, and after they left the table directed that Mr. Ea- 
ger be put under guard. Gen. James Clinton, his personal 
friend and neighbor, then in command of the post, heard of it. 
instantly came and advised the offended officer to discontinue 
his proceedings and let him go free — saying " he had been 
kind to the soldiers in ■ feeding and warming them, and if 
they put him under guard they would have half the Whigs 
of the county down on them, and the last end would be 
worse than the first." The General took wit in his anger 
and complied, and thus ended the unpleasant affair. Mr. 
Eager returned with all the credit of bearding a lion in his 
den, and with his confidence renewed in the personal friend- 
ship and good offices of General Clinton. 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 305 

The old gentleman and his son William lived on adjoin- 
ing farms. One day in the spring of the yea*r he called up 
and said : 

" Well, Bill, what are you going to do with Sam this sum- 
mer ! I want him to come and ride horse and in the fall will 
make him a handsome present." 

The matter was agreed upon, and in a few days the con- 
tract was in process of execution. Ploughing was done with 
a pairtof oxen and one horse before them rode by a boy. Of 
all the dull, lazy, stupid and irksome employments a boy 
was ever condemned to perform, riding horse on a snail 
pace, in the broiling sun, through a long summer's day, be- 
fore oxen dragging a plough, excels it in unmitigated stu- 
pidity, whatever it may be. It is too unexciting for thought, 
and we should think a few summers wasted in that way 
would convert an intelligent lad into a fool. The work pro- 
gressed, the season passed away, the ploughing ceased for 
the year and the boy returned to his father. Notwithstanding 
the nature of the application was calculated to bar out the 
process of mental operation, still, a thought of what that 
present would be, occasionally struggled through the boy's 
mind. Imagination kindly lent her wings, and fancy whis- 
pered it might be a farm — possibly, a horse — but more prob- 
ably, a jack-knife. But, whatever it might be, it filled the 
boy with dread and anxiety to know the reality. Indue 
time the present was procured and formally presented : and 
reader, what do you imagine it was 1 You cannot guess and 
must give it up. At this late day, partaking largely of the 
feelings of that moment, the pen almost falls from the hand 
as we write it. With renovated recollections refreshed by 
the present reeital we can distinctly see in all its regular out- 
line and mathematical proportions, the new, broad-brimmed 
and small round crowned wool hat, that cost a dollar. It 
was made to order and for a special purpose. The recom- 
mendation which accompanied the delivery was unique, and 
not excelled by any nostrum advertisement of the present 
day. — " There, boy, is a most capital article, neat and well 
made : take it and make a good use of it, and if you do not 
wear it out, it will last you your life time." 

All the high hopes and fancied expectations, with vanity 
and pride, like a cobweb came tumbling down to nothing 
and were crushed in a moment. So overwhelming was the 
chief incident of the occasion, that he was unable to thank his 
aged benefactor for the magnitude of the gift. A broad- 
brimmed, round-crowned wool hat for a long summer's work, 

T 



306 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

riding horse before oxen — and llien, to crown the climax of 
utility, it was to last a life time ! 

Injustice, however, to the hat. and manufacturer we feel 
constrained to say it was a most capital fit — a complete hem- 
isphere by actual calculation, and when rightly put on, 
touched and confined to its place every hair of the head. — 
It sat for all nature as if it grew there — a part of the boy him- 
self. We have known this boy well in youth and manhood, 
and are sure he will not be offended at the reference made to 
this early occupation and round-crowned wool hat. If there 
was'an individual in the county who held fashion in sovereign 
contempt, and was strongly inclined to put it down and keep 
it under foot, Mr. Eager was emphatically that one. If he 
could have had his way there would have been but one 
fashion of garments in a century, alike to the young and 
die aged ; nor would those of the other sex have escaped the 
rigor of the rule. We are not certain, all things considered, 
but that we would have been as content and satisfied under 
the Draco law of Mr. Eager, as under the pestilent and ever- 
changeable deity who governs and rules the fashions of the 
present day, and with absolute authority issues his decrees 
every ninety days, il presto, change!'" Though the saying 
is, " You may as well be out of the world as out of the 
fashion of it," still, in sober earnest, there is a just and con- 
venient medium in all things. In more senses than one, — 
in medio tutissimus ibis. 

Mr. Eager lived nearer to the Neelytown meetinghouse 
than any other of the congregation ; and though not a mem- 
ber in full communion, had a great respect for all the Chris- 
tian ordinances, and was among the foremost in their main- 
tenance. The love of money was no ingredient of his char- 
acter ; and for years he kept a kind of ministerial hotel fur 
the benefit of the church. This was as agreeable to his 
personal feelings, as convenient and accommodating to the 
church establishment and its officers. Those who have 
a large share of this custom know the family trouble 
and inconvenience of it, oftentimes; and the clergy them- 
selves are very competent judges of such things from obser- 
vation and experience. Nothing gave this gentleman greater 
satisfaction than to be the instrument of doing good in ad- 
ministering to the wants and convenience of the clergy. It 
'will be observed on reading the notice taken in our paper of 
the Rev. Robert Annan, the first pastor of the church at 
Neelytown, that he changed situations and moved about epiite 
often. It so happened that while he was in this county Mr. 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 307 

Eager assisted him at each removal. When he accepted a 
call, and was about leaving- Neelytown to proceed to Boston 
in the fall of 1785, Mr. Eager conveyed him to Newburgh. 
The weather was very cold and they stopped at an inn to 
warm. While sitting by the fire in conversation, Mr. Annan 
said to Mr. Eager, " Since I have known you, you have as- 
sisted in moving me four times : are you willing to do it 
once more?" 

The answer was a quick, emphatic u No." 

" Why not?" enquired Mr. Annan. 

"You are going," said he, " to the great city of Boston, 
and after you shall have been there a few years you will die 
and go to heaven, and I hope you will be satisfied to stay 
there." 

The quick wit and truthful censure of the answer satisfied 
the enquirer and they left. 

The Neelytown meeting house was a square building with 
a square roof not veiy flat. After Mr. Annan had been in 
Boston a short time, he returned to Neelytown to visit the 
members of his old congregation, to whom he had preached 
the word of life for about fourteen years with great accep- 
tance. As he rode out one day in company with Mr. Eager 
and were passing the old square meetinghouse, comparing it 
in his mind with those in Boston, innocently remarked that 
" it looked like a little old bee hive." 

Mr. Eager, quick as thought, and looking him dead in the 
face as if it meant somethimg, enquired — " Sir, is not the 
honey in a small hive as sweet as that in a large one ? You 
have tasted both." 

The reproof merited by the indiscreet remark was felt, and 
atoned for on the spot. These off-hand remarks show th« 
keen slash and ever active character of his mind. 

Like most men living in the country, owning and driving 
horses all their lives, Mr. Eager loved what he called a good 
horse. Many men are of many minds about horses, as in 
other things, and no two scarcely agree in the same property 
and qualities. Very few persons at this day would agree in 
taste and judgment with Mr. Eager. Color, size, gait, gen- 
eral appearance were each and altogether as nothing, provi- 
ded they were deficient in speed and temper. To suit him 
the animal might have these properties to an extent a little 
short of being unmanageable. One of his team might be as 
small, droopy, long haired and ill-shapen as a jackass, and 
the other large and muscular as an elephant, and there was 
no violation of good taste in his opinion. If they did not: 



308 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

come up to his standard of quality and perfection they were 
worthless, and he would not have given a pound note for 
them. On one occasion he had a team that mounted well 
nigh up to his notion of good horses, and being in the village 
of Wardsbridge, about three and a half miles from Neely- 
town, (which he called Sodom, and Goshen, Gomorrah), 
became offended at something that had transpired, suddenly 
left for the purpose of returning home. How it came about 
we do not know, but as soon as in the wagon, firmly seated, 
reins in hand and the village cleared, he permitted the horses 
to indulge their temper and try their speed, and was soon 
seen measuring the road home in a race apparently against 
time. The distance was three long miles and more ; the 
road wide and in fine order. On he came with the speed of 
a rail car, sweeping the way like a whirlwind. At every 
house the inmates — men, women and children — crowded the 
doors to learn the noise and see what on earth was coming. 
The laborers in the field stood still to wonder and to guess ; 
while some, under the excitement of the moment, ran to stop 
the team under the belief they were running away with the 
driver. All he met gave his flying steeds a wide margin to 
pass. The race was fair, for no one interfered to jostle or 
to jockey. The horses neither faltered nor failed, for they 
had all their master's grit and temper. Arriving home he 
called out lustily for Tom and Harry to come and take the 
team. On inspecting the spot of arrival, it was difficult to 
determine whether the wagon and horses were on or under 
the wood pile. There certainly was a wreck of some kind, 
and though all were there, they seemed to be spilled about 
as if a tornado had recently passed over them. It was al- 
ways a matter of doubt in the family, whether the horses ran 
away with the driver, or whether he drove them against 
time. It was a delicate matter to enquire about, and, there- 
fore, remains unsolved. The breakage, though numerous, 
was small and not mortal — and the wagon, horses, harness 
and driver were all fairly at the end of the race. If he 
left the village in a fit of anger as was generally supposed, 
we never could understand how it came about that the fit 
lasted through a three mile race, unless it was, that when 
the ebullition of anger subsided in the driver, the horses in 
turn became infected — and to show their speed and thatfthey 
were their owner's darlings, and could get into a passion too 
— continued the race till they arrived at home, and were 
wrecked and partially lost on the logs of the wood pile. 
From our boyish recollections of this aged patriarch, hon- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 309 

est, upright and early settler, we can laugh and weep by 
turns over his memory. Many of his pithy and pungent 
remarks and aphorisms are fresh in our recollection, and no 
one can regard him with more filial respect and gratitude. — 
He lived to an old age and when he died, his death was 
really regretted by his friends and neighbors, and deeply la- 
mented by a numerous kindred. The year in which he 
died was memorable for "its mortality. A malignant fever 
which stupefied the patient almost from the hour of attack, 
and ran its course with the velocity of the cholera, dissolving 
the body in mortification as soon as dead, swept over the 
county and gleaned its victims chiefly from manhood and 
age. Infancy and youth seemed to have been protected by 
some invisible mark, inscribed on the portals of early life, 
from the wide spread ravages of that destroying angel. The 
following table will show the breach made in Mr. Eager's 
family : 

Harry, a black man, aged 40, died April 3, 1813. 

Thomas Eager, a son, " 48, " " 11, " . 

Ann Eager, wife, " 73, " " 13, " 

William Eager, " 85, " " 15, " 

It is seen from this statement, that Thomas the son died 
before William his father. William had made his will, 
and devised the homestead — a farm of 250 acres — to his son 
Thomas ; who, not being alive at the death of the testator, 
the devise was void, and the estate descended by legal oper- 
ation to the heirs-at-law of William Eager, the testator. To 
change this hard provision of the common law as growing 
out of this particular case, Mr. John Duer — one of the revi- 
sors, and well acquainted with the facts — introduced the fol- 
lowing provision into the Revised Statutes, which, while it 
relieves against the hardship of such cases, to a great extent 
carries into effect the intention of the testator — a very desira- 
ble point in all devises. 

1. Revision of the Statutes, Vol. 2nd, Page 66, Sec. 52. —"Whenever any 
estate, real or personal, shall be devised or bequeathed to a child or other 
descendent of the testator, and such legatee or devisee shall die during the 
life time of the testator, leaving a child or other descendent who shall sur- 
vive such testator, such devise or legacy shall not lapse, but the property so 
devised or bequeathed shall vest in the surviving child or other descendent 
of the legatee or devisee, as if such legatee or devisee had survived the les- 
tator and had died intestate." 

GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. 

This was composed originally of German emigrants, and 



310 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

organized in about 1732, through the agency of William 
Mancius of Esopus, Ulster county. 

From its organization till about 1772, it was served by 
supplies, who came two or three times during the year, 
preached, baptized and administered the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper. 

In 1772 the Rev. John Michael Keam was settled, who 
remained till 1778, when he was objiged to resign his charge, 
on account of difficulties growing out of his political opinions. 
This town at that time was true Whig, and the inhabitants 
devoted heart and hand to the cause of American indepen- 
dence. 

From 177S to 1784 the Rev. Rynier Van Nest, the minis- 
ter of the Reformed Dutch Church in Shawangunk, officiated 
a part of the time in this church. 

In 1788 the Rev. Moses Freligh was settled over the As- 
sociate congregation of Shawangunk and Montgomery, in 
which he continued till 1811, when he resigned the charge 
of the former, but continued pastor of the latter till his death 
in 1817. 

In that year the Rev. Jesse Fonda was settled and re- 
mained till his death in 1827. 

In the year 1829 the Rev. Robert P. Lee, jr. was settled, 
and remains the present pastor of the congregation. 

The first edifice was a log church, and erected, probably, 
about the time the church was organized. It was situated 
just east of the present grave yard, and north of the turnpike. 
Our informant was told by Mr. Henry Crist, deceased, that 
the building was entered from the outside by a ladder. This, 
doubtless, was for the safety of the congregation when as- 
sembled for worship, and a protection from any sudden In- 
dian assault. 

A frame church was built about the year 1760, which 
stood till the year 1803, when its site was occupied by the 
present large and substantial brick edifice. This was en- 
larged and repaired in 1834. 

From its organization in 1732 till 1739 the consistory was 
very small — there being but one elder and one deacon. In 
the latter year the number was doubled. Johannis Jong 
Bloet was the first elder, and Jacob Booch Staber the first 
deacon. In 1734 they were succeeded by Hieronymus Min- 
gis and Johannes Newkirk, and these again in 1736 by 
Christoffle Maul and Stephanus Crist. 

The first baptisms were in 1734, and were as follows : 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 31 I 

Stephanus, son of Philippus Crist and Annatye Mengessin ; 
Jacob, son of Phillipus Millspach and Maria Hemmer; 
Johannes, son of Christian Eboltz and Maria Elizabeth Crist; 
A nnatje, daughter of Christoffle Maul and Anna Juliana Sewing. 

Some of the names found on the early records are Dekker, 
Terwiliger, Wilson, Velde, Robertson, Krantz, Haywood, 
Endro, Patterson, Weller, Windviel, Weber, Rockafellow • 
and Clearwater. 

The records of the Church were kept in German or Low 
Dutch till the time of Mr. Freleigh, after which but two or 
three entries are found of that kind. 

The four acres occupied by the church and grave yard ^ 
north of the turnpike, were a gift from Mr. Beckford, the 
brother-in-law of Mary Ballard Beckford. She owned large 
tracts of land in this and the town of Crawford, and Beckford 
was her agent in New York to sell them. The congregation 
were to pay for the deed, and the subscription list for t'he 
purpose is on the record of the church, dated in 1759. There 
are fifty-eight names on it, each signing sixpence. This sub- 
scription certainly was a small affair, but its Christian beauty 
and patriot satisfaction are found in its universality. The 
gift was not procured by one, nor yet by a few ; all who 
loved to enter the temple threw a farthing into the treasury 
of the Lord, and their children's children received it back 
with interest. 

We here take occasion to remark that on making our en- 
quiries on various subjects, we were told that such and such 
a gift was made by Queen Anne — that such and such persons 
came to the country in her time, etc. ; but when the facts 
came to be compared with and tested by historic records, in 
a great many instances they turned out to be erroneous. — 
The Queen was a very clever lady, and did many motherly 
small offices for her children in the colonies, but we are per- 
suaded she receives acreditfor many things which she would 
not claim if living. The following are some of these erro- 
neous traditions found in this town : 

One is, that the Germans who founded this church were 
a portion of 6,000 Palatines, who retired to England upon 
their banishment from Germany, and were sent out here by 
the Queen. We have placed before the reader the names of 
some of these very men, and we have many others and the 
time they were naturalized, (1735). Another tradition is, 
that Queen Anne gave the first bell to this log church. Now, 
to show the error in these traditions and many others to 
which we have referred, it is sufficient to state that this; 



312 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

church was not organized till 1732, and Queen Anne came 
to the throne in 1702, and died in 1714, some eighteen or 
twenty years previous to the limes at which she could have 
done the acts attrihuted to her. But whether this hell was a 
gift or a purchase, we are gratified by stating that it is still 
sound and clamorous as ever ; and that in place of calling 
men to the house of God, it is performing a service, the 
character of which is but little less interesting and holy, for 
it is daily calling the children of these early settlers to their 
educational duties, in the common school at Searsburgh. 

This church having been formed and kept up by the Ger- 
mans and their descendents, the services were in that lan- 
guage probably for the first fifty years. Then they Aveve half 
the time in German or Dutch, and the other half in English. 
From our best information, this continued till the time of 
Mr. Freligh, when they were all performed in English. — 
Perhaps he may have preached occasionally in German or 
Dutch. We have heard two sermons since that time in 
German in this church, when the whole country side were 
present, down to the oldest man ; some of whom might not 
have been out for years, but still retained a knowledge of the 
language. The preaching fell upon their consciences like 
holy oil poured out upon them, and shed a pious glow through 
their feelings. Doubtless they ran back in imagination to 
the time when their fathers worshipped in the old log church, 
strangers in a strange land, and praised God for his providen- 
tial care over them during their wandering's. 

"When forests crowned these verdant hills, 

A hundred years ago, 
And ringing through these fertile vales 

Was heard the axman's blow ; 
When Peace and Thrift came hand in hand 

These woodland wilds among, 
Above the settler's humble cot 

A modest Temple sprung. 

"In faith our Fathers reared the shrine 

To Truth and Knowledge given, 
And lifted high a beacon light 

To guide the soul to Heaven ! 
That light, though kindled long ago, 

Is burning brightly still ; 
Tts rays are now in beauty shed 

O'er valley, plain and hill." 

We cannot forego the obligation to lemark here, as con- 
nected with this ancient church and early settlement, that 
ihose who came from the hills and vallies of Germany with 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 313 

the Bible in their hands, and erected this primitive and hum- 
ble temple, have recently, by their own descendents, sent 
some of their own children back to the Old World, to teach 
the word of life to heathen nations. In the year 1836, the 
Rev. William Youngblood and Josephine Millspaugh, his 
wife, members of this church and natives of this town; one 
a descendent of Johannes Jong Bloet — the other, the daugh- 
ter of Doct. Peter A. Millspangh, a descendent of Matthias 
Miltzpach, two original settlers, previously named in our 
paper — left the Christian society of friends and kindred, un- 
der the direction of this portion of the church, on a mission 
to foreign lands. We believe their destination was the Is- 
land of Borneo, and are now in that field of missionary labor. 
We have always thought this one of the most arduous and 
hazardous employments, all things considered, ever assumed 
to be discharged in the occupations of human life, and that 
no inducement, short of the deepest sense of doing God's 
will, with heaven as the final reward, could ever induce 
men to enter that field of missions. But our wonder and ad- 
miration are increased ten fold, when we find that frail and 
dependent woman, with dangers and deaths more numerous 
still besetting and surrounding her on every side, inherent in 
the nature of things, can make up her mind to leave these 
pleasant abodes, the home of her father and mother, sunder 
the ties of all that seem dear on earth, and dedicate her life, 
even in such a cause, to a remote and heathen land. We 
had the pleasure of being acquainted with this lady, and are 
constrained to say, if courtesy, general intelligence, kind and 
affectionate teaching are requisite qualifications in this de- 
partment of human labor, the cause of missions has the benefit 
of them in the person of this individual. We question not, 
if her life be spared to any reasonable period, under God, 
she may be the honored instrument of winning many now 
dark and benighted souls from heathenism to a knowledge 
of the one true and living God. May all such missionaries 
receive their reward in the life to come : we know they can 
not in the present. They know the Master they serve — 
that he will pay in eternity what he promises in time. Still, 
it must be hard and lonely to die in a foreign land, though 
upheld by the consolations of the gospel and a firm reliance 
on the then present protection of their heavenly Father. All 
their earthly consolation in such an hour is found depicted 
in the following lines : 

" 'Tis sweet to think that when 1 die, 
There's one will hold my languid head, 



314 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

And let me on her bosom lie 

Till every breath of life is fled. 
And when these beaming eyes shall close, 

And lose at last their fading ray, 
Forever fixed in deep repose 

She '11 watch beside my lifeless clay. 

" 'Tis sweet to think that when ['m dead, 

Her eye will pour its softest tear, 
Her hand upon my green turf shed 

The sweetest flow'rets of the year. 
'Tis sweet to think we both shall lie 

Ere long within one common tomb; 
'Till from death's bonds released we fly 

To the blest realms beyond its gloom." 

We arc indebted to the Rev. Mr. Lee, the present pastor 
of this church, for the facts of this historical notice. 



ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, WALDEN. 

This Church, like many others in the United States, owes 
its origin to the pious exertions of the venerable society of 
London for propagating the gospel in foreign parts. As early 
as about the year 1732 or '33, this society sent out the Rev. 
Richard Charlton as their missionary for the parish of New 
Windsor, then forming a portion of Ulster county. This 
parish, together with the surrounding country, was then but 
thinly settled, and contained but few families professedly at- 
tached to the Church of England. The principal of these 
were the families of Messrs. Alsop, Ellison, Chambers and 
Lawrence, residing in New Windsor ; and those of Messrs. 
Colden, Matthews, Wileman, Mackenlosh, Bull, etc., in the 
interior part of the county, and all included in the parish of 
New Windsor. Mr. Charlton officiated for some time in pri- 
vate houses, until (being a young man) he married in New 
York ; whither, with the consent of the society, he soon after 
removed. 

The society supplied his place by removing their mission- 
ary, the Rev. W. Kilpatrich, from Cape Scir in Newfound- 
land to the parish of New Windsor. But he, having a large 
family and being a corpulent man, soon became tired of liv- 
ing in the country : a feeling, which, it appears, was most 
cordially reciprocated. 

After his departure the mission continued vacant until the 
year 1744, when Dr. Johnson of Connecticut recommended 
Mr. Hezekiah Watkins, (who had several brothers then set- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 315 

lied in this part of the country) as a proper person to be sent 
home for orders. Accordingly, a small subscription was 
raised for him, which enabled him to go to England, where 
he obtained holy orders, and was appointed by the society 
their missionary., with a salary of only $30 per year, to offici- 
ate at three divisions of the mission, viz : at New Windsor, 
on the Hudson River ; at the Otter Kill, in Orange County ; 
and aX Walkill,, in Ulster County. At this period, and during 
the incumbency of Mr. Watkins, no church had been built, 
excepting - that on the Walkill division, where a temporary 
log- house with a fire place in it was erected. In this, it is 
said, the small congregation met very harmoniously and 
comfortably in winter. This very primitive house of worship 
was located at the fork of the roads now leading from Si. 
Andrews to Sbawangunk and Walden. 

The circumstances attending and consequent upon the 
grant of 500 acres of land, for the support of (be churches at 
Newburgh and New Windsor, belonging more properly to 
the history of those churches, they need not be detailed here. 
Mr. Watkins died, after a long, lingering disease. He is re- 
presented as having been a single man, of an easy and inof- 
fensive disposition, so that he lived happily with his people 
to his death. But his talents as a preacher were not of a 
popular cast, and therefore not calculated to increase the 
number of his flock. ^ 

In the year 1768 or '69 the Rev. John Say re was appointed 
by the society in London as their missionary to this station, 
then known by the name of Newburgh and parts adjacent. 
Soon after entering upon the discharge of bis duties, Mr. 
Sayre removed from Newburgh and located himself in the 
country back ; preaching alternately at Newburgh, Otter Kill 
division and Walkill division or Log Church. Beingr a man 
of talents and a very popular preacher, he was very success- 
ful in his ministrations, and gathered large congregations at 
the different stations where he preached. He succeeded in 
obtaining a charter of incorporation for each of the three 
churches under his care, viz: by the name of St. George's 
Church at Newburgh, in the county of Ulster ; St. Andrew's 
Church in the precinct of Walkill, in the county of Ulster; 
and St. David's Church in the county of Orange — all dated 
July 30, 1770. These charters, issued by royal authority of 
George 3d, king of England, were granted by Cadwallader 
Colden, Esq., Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in- 
Cbief of the province of New York and parts adjacent, in 
council. The second named charter constituted the congre- 



316 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

Ration of the Walkill Church a body corporate, by the name, 
style and title of " The Rector and Members of St. Andrew's 
Church, in the Precinct of the Walkill, in the County of 
Ulster ; " and appointed Cadwallader Colden, Jun. and An- 
drew Graham, chinch wardens ; and George Graham, John 
Blake, James Galatian, Charles Brodhead and John David- 
son, vestrymen. 

Stimulated by this success, the congregations of St. David 
and St. Andrew's determined each to build forthwith a suita- 
ble house for public worship. That of St. David's was soon 
raised, enclosed and glazed, but never finished. The con- 
gregation of St. Andrew's raised by subscription among 
themselves, and in the city of New York and elsewhere, 
about £400, with which they immediately commenced the 
building of a church and dwelling house for a sexton, on a lot 
of ten acres of land, which was presented to them for that 
purpose by Mr. Peter Du Bois. The church — which was 56 
by 44 feet, and considered at that day a very handsome edi- 
fice — together with the dwelling house were both completed 
within a year, at a cost of .£700, leaving the congregation 
indebted for the balance, about ,£300. In addition to the ten 
acres of land given by Mr. Du Bois, on which the church 
was built, there was also a donation of 220 acres, presented 
by Richard Bradley, Attorney General of the colony. This 
tract was situated about a mile from the church, and was af- 
terwards known as the King's Hill Farm. 

After the building of the church, and under the pastoral 
care of the Rev. Mr. Sayre, the congregation increased rap- 
idly, and enjoyed a high degree of prosperity till the com- 
mencement of the Revolutionary war. At the first meeting 
of the Rector and congregation held under the charter in 
1771, the same wardens and vestrymen were elected as 
named in the charter, with the exception of Andrew Graham, 
Jun. elected in place of John Davidson. 

At a meeting of the corporation in 1772, it was resolved, 
that the Rector of St. Andrew's Church be entitled to the sum 
of two shillings for every baptism registered — three shillings 
for every marriage — and two shillings for every funeral. 

In 1775 the vestry consisted of Cadwallader Colden, Jun. 
and Andrew Graham, wardens ; and Peter Bodine, J. J. 
Galatian, Ambrose Jones, Justus Banks, John Blake and 
Edward Burne — Justus Banks having been chosen in place 
of George Graham, deceased. In this year the Rev. Mr. 
Sayre, forseeing the troubles that were about to ensue on 
the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, suddenly relih- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 317 

qiiished his charge and left the congregation in a very un- 
settled state. Whither he went is not known. Up to this 
period the congregation of St. Andrew's had been eminently 
prosperous, and the church was filled to overflowing. But 
amidst the collision of parties, the prejudices excited against 
the church as being the offspring of the Church of England, 
and other causes unhappily existing, the congregation of St. 
Andrew's began from this time to decline. 

On the departure of the Rev. Mr. Sayre, application was 
made from time to time to the Rector of Trinity Church, 
New York, with a view to obtain another minister, but with- 
out success. The parish remained vacant until the year 1790, 
when the Rev. George H. Spierin was engaged for two years, 
at a salary of ,£100 per annum. The vestry at this period 
consisted of Cadwallader Colden, Jun. and James G. Graham, 
wardens; and Justus Banks, Andrew Graham, Thomas 
Colden, Peter Galatian, Matthew Du Bois and Edward Burn, 
vestrymen. Mr. Spierin residing at Newburgh, an inconve- 
nient distance from the church, an effort was now made to 
procure a parsonage house for the accommodation of the 
minister. Accordingly Cadwallader Colden, Sen. generously 
presented the congregation with an acre of ground adjoining 
the church lot, on which a handsome parsonage house, with 
convenient out-houses, were soon built. 

In 1793 Mr. Spierin received and accepted a call from the 
congregation of Poughkeepsie ; whereupon application was 
again made to the clergy of New York to supply the vacan- 
cy. The Rev. Dr. Moore recommended Mr. Frederick Van 
Home a candidate for the ministry, who accordingly received 
and accepted a call, and on the receipt of holy orders, enter- 
ed upon the duties of Rector, December 10. 

Several attempts had been made to liquidate the church 
debt by the sale of pews and private subscriptions, but with 
very little success until the year 1796. During this year an 
investigation was made into the financial affairs of the church, 
when it was found that there remained due to Cadwallader 
Colden, Esq. a balance on the original debt, together with in- 
terest more than ,£500. A considerable sum was also due to 
Andrew Graham, Esq., for monies advanced in building the 
church. As this debt operated as a heavy load upon the 
church, which possessed no means of reimbursement, those 
gentlemen most generously relinquished their claims, and 
thus freed the church and congregation from all further em- 
barrassment, for which they received the thanks of the vestry 
and congregation. 



318 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

The vestry at this time consisted of Justus Banks and Mi- 
chael Beliger, wardens ; and Alexander Dorcas, James Kain, 
Peter Galatian, William Erwin, Francis Lyon and Thomas 
Gee. 

Mr. Van Home continued Rector of the parish until the 
year 1809, when he removed to Ballston, and in the follow- 
ing- year the Rev. Mr. Maclin was called to ihe Rectorship; 
the vestry being composed of Andrew Graham and Peter Ga- 
latian, wardens, and William Erwin, Alexander Golden, 
Benjamin Thorn, Nicholas Bogert, Jacob Smith and John 
Galatian. Mr. Maclin continued Rector for three years, and 
in 1810 was succeeded by the Rev. William Powell. Mr. 
Powell resigned his charge in the ) T ear 1818, and was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Samuel Phinney. In 1821 the vestry, 
being unable to continue the salary of the Reclor at $400, 
reduced it to $300, in consequence of which Mr. Phinney 
resigned. He was succeeded by the Rev. James P. Cotter 
in 1822, who soon after fell in disgrace and left the parish. 
In 1826 the Rev. Joshua L. Harrison was called to the parish, 
but resigned in the course of the same year on account of ill 
health, much to the regret of the congregation. In this year 
it was determined to erect an Episcopal Chinch in the village 
of Walden on a site given by Jesse Scofield, Esq., and a sub- 
scription was immediately opened for that purpose. The 
building was forthwith commenced, and finished in the course 
of the following year. Previous to its consecration, however, 
it was further determined to relinquish the old church of St. 
Andrew's as a place of public worship, and to give to the 
new church in W T alden the name of St. Andrew's Church. 
This church was accordingly consecrated by Bishop Hobart. 
on the third day of September, 1827. 

In April of this year the Rev. William H. Lewis accepted 
a call to the parish, but resigned his charge in November of 
the same year, and was immediately succeeded by the Rev. 
Albert Hoyt. The vestry at this time consisted of Nicholas 
J. Bogert and John Fell, wardens ; and John Galatian, Ja- 
cob T. Walden, John J. Galatian, Doct. Geo. G. Graham, 
Doct. Peter P. Galatian and Doct. Thomas Golden. 

In 1829 the vestry erected a handsome parsonage house on 
a lot of four acres, purchased of Mr. Cyrus Lyon. The cost 
of the whole, amounting to $4,000, was defrayed chiefly by 
the sale of all the church property at old St. Andrew's, with 
the exception of the burying ground. On the 22d of Janu- 
ary in this year, the congregation was called 1o mourn the 
loss by death of its pastor, the Rev. Mr. Hoyt, who had be- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 319 

come greatly endeared to the people, during the short period 
of his ministrations. He was succeeded in March following 
by the Rev. Nathan Kingsberry, who held the Rectorship for 
one year, and was succeeded in 1830 by the Rev. William 
H. Hart. Mr. Hart continued Rector till the year 1836, 
when he removed to Richmond in Virginia, and was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Robert Shaw. Mr. Shaw removed to 
Marlborough in 1838, and was succeeded by the Rev. Henry 
W. Swelzer. In 1842 Mr. Swetzer resigned, and was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Horace Hills, Jun., who retained the 
Rectorship but one year, and resigned his charge in Novem- 
ber, 1843. The parish was then vacant until October, 1844, 
when the present incumbent, the Rev. William H. Hart — 
then residing at Fishkill, Dutchess county — was again called 
to the Rectorship of this parish. 

The present members of the vestry are George Weller and 
Doct. George G. Graham, wardens ; and William Buchanan, 
James R. Cooper, James Bogert, David E. Bogert, William 
Ruggles, Samuel Wait, Jr., Joseph P. Cooke and George 
W. Oakley, vestrymen, and Peter Bogert, secretary. 

The congregation now consists of about thirty families, 
having suffered much of late years from deaths and removals. 

For the foregoing particular and very interesting- history 
of this ancient congregation we are indebted to its present 
Rector, the Rev. W r illiam H. Hart, who, at our request, 
kindly wrote it out for an insertion in our paper. It is made 
out from authentic documents in his possession and other 
reliable sources, and is, therefore, as accurate as it can be 
made at this late day. 

In relation to Mr. Watkins, mentioned in the history of 
this church, we present the following extract from the jour- 
nal of the General Assembly of New York, A. D. 1756. 

" Die Veneris, 3 ho., P. M., Oct. 15, 1756. 

" A motion was made by Capt. Walton in the words following, to wit : — 
" In the last session .lames Parker and William Weyman, Printers of the 
paper called the "New York Gazette, or the Weekly Post Boy," were taken 
into custody of the Sergeant -at-arms attending this house, for publishing in 
their said paper a piece entitled, "Observations on the circumstances and 
conduct of the People in the counties of Ulster and Orange in the province 
of New York," greatly reflecting on the conduct of this house ; and did then 
charge one Hezekiah Watkins, a clergyman of Newburgh in Ulster county, 
with being the author of the said piece, etc. — I, therefore, move that the 
Rev. Mr. Watkins be now ordered to attend this house. Ordered that the 
Rev. Mr. Watkins attend this house on Tuesday, the 22d inst. 

Octoeer 22, 1756. 
The said Mr. Watkins being then called in, he was informed by the 



320 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

speaker that Parker and Weyman, Publishers of the New York Gazette or 
Weekly Post Boy, charged him with being the author, etc. of a piece enti- 
tled, etc. ; and the said original piece being then produced and shown to 
him, and being asked whether he was the author of it, acknowledged that 
he was: and, being asked what induced him to write and publish such a 
piece, answered that, observing the distress of the people in that part of the 
country, his zeal for their relief had carried him too far, and that he had no 
design to offend this house in what he wrote. 

The house then came to the following resolution, viz : 
"Resolved, That the Rev. Hezekiah Watkins in writing and publishing 
etc., which contains sundry indecent expressions reflecting on the conduct 
of this house, is guilty of a high misdemeanor and a contempt of the au- 
thority of this house." 

Ordered that said Hezekiah Watkins be, for his said offence taken into the 
custody of the Sergeant-at-arms, etc. 

October 23, 1756. 

A petition of Hezekiah Watkins, missionary of Newburgh, in the coun- 
ty of Ulster, now in custody, etc., was presented and read, setting forth 
that, in March last, he did send to Parker and Weyman, Printers, etc., a 
piece entitled, etc., which, though it contained some things which reflected 
upon the conduct of the honorable house, did not proceed from any disre- 
gard to them ; that the motives inducing thereto were the distressed circum- 
stances of the people in those parts of the county, and his giving too much 
attention to common reports — for which he here humbly asks the pardon 
of the honorable house and promises to bemore circumspect for the future, 
and therefore praying that he may be discharged out of custody, etc. 

Ordered that the said Hezekiah Watkins be brought to the bar of this 
house, etc. 

And he was accordingly brought, where he received a reprimand from 
Mr. Speaker, and was ordered to be discharged out of custody, paying fees. 

The offence of the Rev. gentleman seems to have been 
that he was rather inclined to favor the cause of the people'; 
for the promotion of whose interest in a new country, the 
legislative power was not sufficiently promotive. For a 
public expression of such opinion the house brought him to 
their bar, lest royal authority in the colony might be lessened 
in the eyes of its subjects, by their omission to notice the of- 
fence, and as a wholesome admonition to all others in like 
cases offending. These old assemblymen weve wonder- 
fully vigilant in guarding their dignity, and prompt in their 
arrests and punishments. In this case they must have sent 
all the way to Newburgh to arrest Mr. Watkins. 



THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GOODWILL. 

This congregation, formerly called the Walkill congrega- 
tion, appears to have been formed some time previous to 
1740. At its first organization it consisted of about forty 
families that had emigrated from different parts of Ireland, 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 321 

but principally from the county of Londonderry. They 
formed a connection with the Presbyterians in this county, 
and were supplied by them with the preaching of the gospel 
for several years, until the settlement of the Rev. Joseph 
Houston, who, in the year 1740, was installed the first pastor 
of the congregation. He survived this event but a few 
months, dying in October of the same year, aged 48 years. 
He was the progenitor of most of those of this name in the 
county. 

The congregation remained vacant some years, until the 
way was prepared for the settlement of the Rev. John Maffit, 
who served them for some years, but some difficulties arising, 
he was dismissed from his pastoral charge. After this, a 
portion of the people withdrew and formed another congre- 
gation, (probably Neelytown) under the ministry of the 
Rev. Robert Annan of the Secession Church of Scotland. 

The next pastor of this church was the Rev. John Blair, 
from the college of New Jersey, who was installed 1768 and 
deceased 1771, aged 52 years. The congregation remained 
vacant until the settlement of the Rev. Andrew King in 1776, 
who continued to serve there till the period of his death, 
which took place in 1815. The remains of the Rev. Messrs. 
Houston, Blair and King are deposited in (he grave yard of / 
this church, which is probably one of the oldest burying 
places in this region of country. 

The next pastor of the congregation was the Rev. Robert 
W. Coudit, who was installed December, 1820, and at his 
own request dismissed in April, 1830. The Rev. William 
Blain was - settled in this congregation in the summer of 
1830, and is still their pastor, to whom we are indebted for 
our account of this early mother of other churches. 

ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH OF NEELYTOWN. 

This congregation was formed before the Revolution, in 
about 1765. The meeting house was erected about the same 
time and called "Neelytown Church," from a family by 
the name of Neely living in the vicinity, who were early 
settlers. The Rev. Robert Annan, of the Associate Presby- 
tery of Pennsylvania, was the first pastor — in connection with 
the Little Britain congregation as a united charge— to whom 
lie preached for many years with great acceptance. It was 
during his ministry between these congregations that the 
union was formed between the Associate Presbyterian's of 
Pennsylvania and New York, and the united body assumed 

v 



322 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

the name of the "Associate Reformed Synod.'' This was in 
1782. Mr. Annan was active in the matter, and his congre- 
gation acquiesced in the union. 

Mr. Annan having left and removed to Boston, this con- 
gregation was without a pastor for several years, though 
many efforts were made to procure one. The Rev. John 
McJimsey preached as a supply for a few Sabbaths in the 
summer of 1795 ; and in July 22, 1795, the congregation 
gave him a unanimous call, and he was regularly installed 
December 22d, 1796. The elders at this tune were James 
Morison, William Bull, Charles Bull, Samuel McCord, Wil- 
liam Gdlcspie and Joseph Crawford. 

Mr. McJimsey remained the pastor of this congregation 
in connection with Graham's Church in the town of Craw- 
ford, then recently organized, till Octoher 18, 1809, when 
the connection was regularly dissolved, and he accepted a 
call from an Associate Reformed congregation in the. city of 
Albany. The congregation remained vacant, with occasional 
supplies, till 1819, when, by the invitation of the congrega- 
tion, he returned and resumed his pastoral labors as a stated 
supply; dividing his time equally between the Neelytown 
and Graham's Church, which was then also vacant. This 
he continued to do for twelve years, with pleasure and satis- 
faction to himself and profit to his hearers. During the long 
vacancy of the church in the absence of Mr. McJimsey, the 
number of members were greatly reduced by deaths and re- 
movals, and on his return there were only nineteen members 
in full communion then living ; while the whole board of 
trustees and elders had been swept away by death; and none 
elected to fill their places. The church was organized by 
the ordination of elders on the 2d of July, 1820. Trustees 
were also duly elected, and on administering the Lord's 
Supper on the 25th of August ensuing twenty-two new 
members were received. 

Nothing of special importance in regard to the history of 
this church occured until the winter of 1831, when the town 
of Hamptonburgh was erected, and a plan set on foot to erect 
a new church at Hamptonburgh and form the congregation 
out of the old one at Neelytown, and such new members as 
the new location would induce 1o unite ; the understanding 
being, among all parties, that it should be an Associate Re- 
formed Church. It was nothing more than a transfer of the 
old establishment to a new location, with a view to increase 
tke congregation, accommodate the inhabitants of the new 
town, and bring in a new population to support the church. 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 323 

The object was accomplished ;- the old church edifice taken 
down, and a fine large church erected in a beautiful location 
at Campbell Hall on tbe Otter Kill: In these proceedings 
the members of (he old church residing within the limits of 
the new town were most active ; while the residue of the 
congregation gave a reluctant assent. 

The now church was opened with a sermon by the Rev. 
John McJimsey February 7, 1832. A call was made out for 
the Rev. Malcolm McLaren, a minister of the Associate Re- 
formed Presbytery of Saratoga, which he accepted, and was 
installed, October 1, 1832. 

Here ends the history of the old Neelytown Church, and 
it grieves us, personally, to write the fact. Perhaps, all 
things considered, it was best; yet, like the intrusion of 
death amidst the sacred hearth, it is difficult to recon- 
cile our feelings to the apparently trying and cruel dis- 
pensation. If there is one spot on earth dearer than all 
others, this is that one. Here lies entombed in the dark cere- 
ments of the grave some flesh that once was ours. Here we 
first heard the glad tidings of salvation preached to men, 
and saw the solemn distribution of those mysterious emblems 
which represent the broken body and shed blood of a cruci- 
fied IRedeemer : — here, for many years, and till grown to 
manhood, we heard from Sabbath to Sabbath an exposition of 
the sacred scriptures, and listened to the fervent and pious 
admonitions of that now aged and venerable herald of the 
cross, the Rev. John McJimsey, ever true to an early faith 
and ever anxious for men's salvation : — here we can now 
see in vision the aged and noble forms of pious and patriot 
worshippers, with deep devotional feeling lifting their hearts 
to heaven, and ready to lay down their lives for their God 
and their country : — here are the green graves of our ances- 
tors, and still around them dwell our friends and kindred : — 
here lives at the age of fourscore years the mother who gave 
us life and nourished our infancy, and as she gently glides 
to her final rest, watches our steps as in the day of our boy- 
hood, — and here, by the will of God, we will mingle our 
dust with the sands of the grave yard, in the humble hope 
of a glorious resurrection to immortal life. 

For the history of this and Graham's Church, we are in- 
debted to the Rev. John McJimsey, who kindly permitted us 
to extract them from some notes made for another purpose. 

COLDENIIAM CHURCH. 

The Reformed Presbyterian Congregation of Coldenham 



324 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

was organized by the Rev. James McKinney in the year 
1795. Forty-two years before this time, however, a praying 
society had been formed by Rev. John Culberlson, who came 
to this county In 1752. This society received supplies of 
gospel ordinances occasionally until the union between the 
Reformed Presbytery and the Associate Synod in 1782, 
which was attended with results so disastrous to this small 
community that it was unknown to the church until visited 
by Mr. McKinney: but from the time he began to labor in 
its bounds it increased so rapidly that, at the time of its or- 
ganization there were about twenty-live communicants, two 
of whom were elders. Robert Johnston, who had been or- 
dained to the office of ruling elder some time previous to his 
removal from Ireland, and Robert Bealtie, who had been an 
elder in the Associate Reformed Church at Little Britain, 
from which he had withdrawn, were the ruling elders of this 
new congregation. Commencing as it did under favorable 
auspices the new organization received liberal supplies of 
gospel ordinances from those eminent men, who became the 
fathers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America. 
These supplies were joyfully and profitably received and at- 
tended, although they were in the dwelling houses and barns 
of the neighborhood until 1799, when a house of worship 
was erected. 

In the year 1800 a call was made by the congregation, in 
company with one previously organized in the city of New 
York, upon Alexander McLeod, who, together with Messrs. 
Donelly, Black and Wylie, had been licensed to preach the 
gospel by the Reformed Presbytery, which met at Coldenham 
in June, 1799. The call having been accepted, Mr. McLeod 
was ordained and installed accordingly. For three years he 
labored so successfully in his united charge, that at the end 
of the time each of the congregations wished to obtain all 
their pastor's labors. His labors were in the country in sum- 
mer and in the city in winter. Mr. McLeod chose to occupy 
New York as his future field. Coldenham, of course, was 
left vacant, and remained so until the settlement of Mr. 
James Milligan in 1812. Mr. Milligan remained in it until 
1817; at which time he removed to Ryegate Sirect, and in 
August of the same year, Mr. James R. Wilson, having re- 
ceived and accepted a call, became its pastor. Dr. Willson 
went to Albany, New York, in 1830 •, and in consequence of 
his removal, the congregation remained vacant until his re- 
turn in November, 1833. 

After his return the house of worship, having become 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 325 

through age uncomfortable, the erection of a new edifice be- 
gan to be talked of, and in 1838 a new and commodious 
house was built. In the fall of 1840 Dr. Willson went to 
Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and the congregation was supplied 
by Presbyterial assistants, until the settlement of James W. 
Shaw, its present pastor, in May, 1844. The other officers 
of the congregation are John Beattie, James Beattie, Samuel 
Arnat, William Elder and Daniel Wilkin, elders ; and Wil- 
liam B. Acheson, William Fleming and William Turner, 
deacons. 

We acknowledge ourselves indebted to Mr. James Beattie 
for the items of this church history. 

THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF BEREA. 

This church is distant ten miles from the village of New- 
burgh, and three miles from the villages of Montgomery and 
Walden. The church was organized under the statute of 
the State by the name of Berea ; which was suggested by 
Elder Thomas McKissock, and adopted by the congregation. 
The church was a secession from the Presbyterian Church of 
Goodwill — at present under the pastoral care of the Rev. 
William Blain — caused by difficulties which originated in 
the settlement of a minister. The Reformed Dutch Church 
of Berea has had but one settled minister, the Rev. James 
B. Ten Eyck. Mr. Ten Eyck was sent for, to preach four 
Sabbaths in November, 1821. The church there made ap- 
plication to the classis of New Brunswick, to which Mr. Ten 
Eyck belonged as a licentiate, for his services as an ordained 
missionary for one year. The classis of New Brunswick ex- 
amined Mr. Ten Eyck, and ordained him as a missionary, 
with direction to labor a year in the church. In April, 1823, 
Peter Lowe and Robert Crowell were appointed commission- 
ers to present to the classis of Ulster certain proposals ; having 
in view their connexion with the Reformed Dutch Church. 

The following is an extract from the minutes of the classis 
of Ulster : 

"The classis received the following communication and proposals from 
the congregation at Berea, for connecting themselves with this classis : 

" 1st. That the temporalities of the congregation be managed by Trus- 
tees agreably to the statute. 

•' 2nd. All persons that are stated hearers at this church, and shall havr 
contributed to the support ot the same for one year immediately preceding 
an election, shall have a voice in fixing the amount of salary, and in making- 
choice of a pastor, etc. 

" 3d. That the Westminster Confession of Faith, together with the 



S26 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

Dutch Reformed Confession of Faith and Catechisms, shall be the standards 
of this church. 

" The above communication and proposals were referred to a committee 
of the classis of Ulster, consisting of the Rev. Messrs. Wm. Bogardus, 
H. Bogardus and Elder E. Bunk. 

" Your committee beg leave to report the following resolutions, viz : — 

" 1st, That the said church and congregation of Berea, be and hereby is 
admitted into connexion with this classis, and received under our constitu- 
tional care and government. 

" 2d. That the classis are willing that said congregation take any mea- 
sures, and adopt any plans for its internal government, which are not repug- 
nant to the constitution of our Reformed Dutch Church. 

" 3d. That the classis advise the Rev. Mr. Ten Eyck, who now labors 
among that people, to take the proper measures for the due organization of 
said church, and to complete their connexion with this body. 

" Classis rejoice in the hope that said congregation will become a pious 
and valuable member of our church, and pray that the Great Head of the 
church may receive them under his covenant protection and grace. 

(Signed.) Henry Ostkandek, Chairman." 

In pursuance with this act the ecclesiastical relation of 
Mr. Ten Eyck was regularly transferred from the classis of 
New Brunswick to the classis of Ulster, and installed by a 
committee of the latter body in 1823 as pastor of the Reform- 
ed Dutch Church of Berea. The first consistory was com- 
posed of the following persons: Thomas McKissock, John 
Blake, Caleb Dill, Peter Lowe and Christian Crist. This 
consistory was chosen August 2d, 1823. The following are 
the names of the first Trustees: Andrew Kidd, John Milliken, 
Robert Crowell, Nathaniel Akerly and Thomas Clineman. 

We acknowledge our obligations to Mr. Ten Eyck for the 
facts of this church history. 



THE PROTESTANT REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH 

In the village of Walden is a handsomely constructed 
frame edifice of 70 feet in length by 46 in breadth, with a 
neatly finished cupola and bell. The interior is in imitation 
of live oak ; the pulpit and pews are in modern style, and 
the whole building is a specimen of simple and beautiful ar- 
chitecture. 

It contains 78 pews on the floor, which, with a gallery in 
the rear, are calculated to accommodate 500 persons. There 
is also a commodious and pleasant basement room, well ap- 
propriated to Sabbath School and evening exercises. It oc- 
cupies a fine elevation, commanding an extensive prospect of 
the surounding country, embracing mountains and vallies, 
fruitful fields and flowing streams — reminding the w r orship- 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 327 

per, as he ascends towards the sacred temple, of the descrip- 
tion of the Psalmist, " Beautiful for situation, the joy of the 
whole earth, is Mount Zion." 

The church edifice was erected under the direction of a 
committee, consisting of Messrs. Jesse Scofield, Peter Neafie, 
Cornelius Neafle and Augustus F. Scofield, and was com- 
pleted in the spring of 1838, at a cost of between ten and 
eleven thousand dollars. 

There has since been erected a neat and comfortable par- 
sonage within a few feet of the church ; the expense of 
which, together with that of the house of worship, has been 
entirely defrayed. 

The house of worship was dedicated to the service of the 
Triune God in the month of August, 1838 : the Rev. Thos. 
De Witt, D.D., of New York, preaching the sermon on the 
occasion. 

The church was organized on the 1st of September, 1838, 
With fourteen membets, when the following persons were 
elected to the offices of elders and deacons, viz : Jesse Sco- 
field and Barent Van Buren, elders ; Alexander Kidd and 
Peter T. Clearwater, deacons; who, on the 18th of the same 
month, were ordained into their respective offices — thus con- 
stituting the first consistory of this infant church. 

On the 10th of August, 1839, the Rev. John M. Scribner 
was installed pastor of the congregation, who resigned his 
charge on the 5th of April, 1841, and was succeeded by the 
present pastor, the Rev. Charles Whitehead, who was in- 
stalled on the 10th of May, 1842. 

Under the smiles of a gracious Providence the church has 
rapidly grown, and is now in a prosperous condition, com- 
prising 120 members in communion and about 75 families in 
the congregation. 

For the items of this church history we are indebted to Mr. 
Whitehead, its present pastor. 



MONTGOMERY ACADEMY. 

The subscription to found this Academy is dated in 1787, 
and contains 277 names, subscribing from 4s. to .£6, and 
covered a population of fifteen miles square. The sums 
subscribed amounted to ,£319; and the subscribers appointed 
the following persons trustees: Arthur Parks, Benjamin 
Sears, Adam Crans, Jacob Newkirk, Henrick Smith, Jo- 
hanes Miller, Henrick Van Keuren, William Jackson, Jas. 



328 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

Jackson, Philip Millspaugh, Martin as Crist, Matthew Hun- 
ter and Gideon Pelton. 

The trustees purchased a frame already put up several 
miles distant, as they could get it for some small sum ; made 
a frolic, and carted it down to the village. This was but the 
work of a day in those patriotic and free-will times. The 
building was entirely put up and finished. The teacher they 
wished to employ (the Rev. Alexander Miller of New Jer- 
sey,) was married, had a family and horse, and could not 
come unless they could be accommodated as well as himself. 
The trustees doubled their exertions, built a kitchen adjoin- 
ing the Academy, put up a stable, and permitted Mr. Miller 
to live in the ground floor, tendered him .£80 for the first 
year and after that all he could make, which was accepted. 
The school opened with fair prospects and has been in as 
flourishing condition ever since as any country academy in 
the State. Among its early teachers we name Nathaniel 
Howell, Nathan H. White, Ruben Neely and William H. 
Waller. Tuition was from £5 to £2 per year, according to 
what the pupil studied. 

This building, never very substantial, was removed in 
1818, and the present brick edifice put up in its place at an 
expense of over $5,000. The Institution had some funds on 
hand, a rare fact at this day, which with $1,500 raised by 
subscription and $2,000 of quit rents on three patents in this 
county, then uncancelled, enabled the trustees to complete 
this noble educational structure. The building is 60 by 40 
feet, two stories high, with a small cellar for coal and wood. 
Each story is divided into two rooms, a large and small one. 
The Institution was incorporated April 13th, 1792. There 
are but three academies in the State older than this. 



REVOLUTIONARY HOUSES STILL STANDING. 

1. The old house at Neelytown built by William Eager, 
now owned by Mr. Mulford. 

2. The old house at Neelytown built by James McCobb, 
owned many years by Mr. James Jackson, and now by Mr. 
Sherwood. 

3. The old house now owned by Mr. Foster Smith, on the 
Walkill near Capt. William Jackson, and where the Rev. 
Robert Annan lived during the Revolution. 

4. The old Coldenham stone house built .by Lieut. Gov. 
Golden. 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 



329 



5. 



The old Rockafellow house near the village of Mont- 
gomery, known as the camp. 

6. The old stone Hedden house near the Goodwill Church. 

7. The old Charles Booth house, now owned by Mr. Lew- 
is Booth, on the road from Neelytown to Campble Hall. 

8. The old Henry Van Keuren stone house near Goodwill 
Church, owned by Doct. James Van Keuren. 

9. Hans Youngblood's stone house near the Muddy Kill, 
where there was a German School in 1761. 

10. The old stone Hendrick Smith house on the State 
Road, built by his father Willhelemus Smith in 1759, the 
stone were brought from Comfort's Hill. They drew a day 
or two and then mend up the road a day or two. 

11. The old house known as the Beemer house, on the 
State Road near Mr. Samuel Hunter's. 



AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 

1820. Gideon Pelton, Second best Potatoes, #5 00. 

John Blake, Best Coverlid, 2 00 

1822. Johannes Miller, Best Farm in the town, 10 00 
A pair of woollen stockings presented by Miss Mary Ann 

Miller were considered very superior. 

1823. Joseph Caldwell, Best Winter Wheat, 38 bush, per acre, 10 00 

On Cheese, 5 00 

Best piece of Carpeting, 6 00 

Second do., 3 00 

Best Piece of Linen, 5 00 

Third Best piece of Diaper, 2 00 



1824. 



James Wait, 
Frances Miller, 
George S. Miller, 
James O. Miller, 
do. 



Sportsmen, Take Notice! — In consequence of the repeated violations 
nf the statute against Horse Racing, and in order to discourage and prevent 
the vices which are commonly attendant on races, the subscribers give no- 
tice that every violation of said law within the town of Montgomery, which 
may hereafter come within the knowledge of either of them, shall be prose- 
cuted according to law. 



Johannes Newkirk, 
Adam Dickerson, 
Lzmuel W. Ruggles, 
David Mason, 
William H. Wetter, 
John Chandler, 
Rcier A. Millspaugh, 
John McMichael, 



John Blake, Jr., 
David Ruggles, 
James R. Boyd, 
Isaac Smith, 
Henry Crosby, 
John Scott, 
Phincas Camp, 



Thomas McKissock, 
Charles Fader, 
Daniel Cozens, 
Joseph Caldwell, 
Luther Pratt, 
Nath an iel Caldtvcll , 
Walter Mead, 

1813. 



AGRICULTURE. 



As agriculture is the great basis of the support and welfaie 
of society in the United States, and needs the light of science 
as well as experience to be shed upon it, to render the occu- 



330 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

pation more pleasant, profitable and certain than heretofore, 
we cannot do less than occupy a page of our paper to inform 
all interested in the subject what is now doing with a view to 
improve the farming interest of the county. 

Orange County Scientific and Practical Agricultural Institute. 
— The design of this Institute is, to afford the most efficient means foi the 
acquisition of a combined Scientific and Practical knowledge of Agriculture. 

A number of farmers residing in the same neighborhood in the town of 
Montgomery, from seven to nine miles west of Newburgh, having united 
under a written contract one with the other, to become instructors to such 
pupils as may be committed to their cave through the undersigned, their 
officers, present the Institute to the attention of the public. 

Each pupil will be under the practical instruction of the member of the 
association with whom he may reside. 

The scientific instruction will be under the care of Mr. James Darrach, a 
graduate of Yale College, a gentleman of scientific attainments, and in com- 
mon with his associates, the holder of his own plow. 

This part of the institution will embrace most of the academic studies, 
Natural History, and the principles of Agricultural Economy. 

The peculiarity of this Institute which recommends it to parents is, that 
the practical instruction will be given by practical farmers, whose duty and 
interest compel them to attend to the economy as well as the general man- 
agement of a farm. 

It presents also the following features : family discipline and care; con- 
stant companionship with the instructors; varied husbandry and soil which 
the pupils will be constantly directed to observe and compare. In the 
neighborhood are places of worship within convenient distance for all to 
attend— Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Reformed Dutch, Scotch Presbyterian 
aud Methodist. 

Teams — $125 per annum for tuition and board, payable semi-annually in 
advance. 

Mail and other stages that pass over the Newburgh and Cochecton Turn- 
pike connect our places daily with Newburgh. 

Enquiries and applications may be addressed to either of the undersigned 
at Coldenham, Orange county, New York. 

Samuel Wait, Jr., Secretary. Lindley Murray Ferris, Pres't. 

At the opening of this Institution on the 20th May, 1846, 
an Introductory Lecture was delivered by Professor James 
Darrah, on the nature and object of the institution, mode of 
instruction, &c, and widely circulated atlhe time. We com- 
mend the address to the careful perusal of every farmer, and 
should be pleased to lay it before them here, but are prevent- 
ed by its great length. The Institute is in practical opera- 
tion with several students from abroad in attendance, giving 
its friends and patrons a flattering promise of future success. 
The novelty and beauty of the principle of the school is, that 
theory and practice walk arm in arm and commune daily to- 
gether. If such an establishment by such mode of instruc- 
tion does not succeed and elevate the great farming interest 



TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 331 

of the county we do not know what will, and we may then 
hopelessly ask what can be done which has not been attempt- 
ed. We are not a practical farmer and therefore may be 
judged incompetent to advise and intrusive in our remarks, 
still we must be borne with as we have their interest deeply 
at heart. We hold the opinion that there is a moral and po- 
litical dignity which surround and rest on the farming inter- 
est of life county which invest it with peculiar importence, of 
which iiic agriculturalists are not aware or do not sufficiently 
appreciate and act up to — that there is a science essential to 
its profitable conduct which that class of citizens do not pos- 
sess to the requisite extent demanded of them at this enlight- 
.ened period of the world, when the loud cry in every other 
department of human pursuit, is u advance, progress, im- 
prove," and that at this day in this county with lands at least 
partially exhausted of many essential properties of a- virgin 
soil, it is madness to decry the application of the arts in va- 
rious ways to increase and insure the products of the soil. — 
We cannot for the life of us see, considering the science and 
chemical combinations which invest every handful of earth 
and affect its fruitfulness, why the farming interests of the 
country at large are not more than anxious to bestow upon 
the sons of the plough the best possible education in all the 
departments by which the soil may be thoroughly understood. 

"Tn ancient times the sacred plough employed 

The Kings and awful fathers of mankind ; 

And some, with whom compared your insect tribes 

Are but the beings of a summer's day — 

Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm 

Of mighty war: then with unwearied hand, 

Disdaining little delicacies, seized 

The plough, and greatly independent lived." 

AGRICULTURAL ANECDOTE. 

Pliny, the elegant Roman historian, relates that Cresinus 
was originally a slave — that after being made a freeman he 
purchased a small piece of ground, from which by great in- 
dustry and skill he obtained larger crops than others who 
had much larger farms. Their envy was excited and they 
complained of him as using magic charms to fertilize his 
lands and impoverish those of his neighbors. He was sum- 
moned by the Edile (a Roman officer) to appear and answer 
the charge before the people. He obeyed the mandate and 
took hi | laughter with him, a fresh and healthy looking girl, 
whose charms were increased by the simplicity of her dress. 



332 TOWN OF MONTGOMERY. 

He also carried with him his tools and implements of hus- 
bandry which were in excellent order. The mattocks were 
heavy, his plough enormous, his cattle sound and fat. "Be- 
hold," said this dignified and indignant farmer, "behold my 
whole magical equipage ! behold the charms which I have 
recourse to ! There are others indeed which I am incapable 
of producing before you ; I mean the sweat of my brow, and 
incessant toil both by day and night." This native eloquence 
decided the matter ; he was honorably acquitted by the unan- 
imous voice of the large assembly. Farmers, this ancient 
anecdote ofan industrious farmer is related for your benefit, 
the point, industry and care in the manufacture and good- 
keeping of the instruments of your honorable profession. 



TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 

This was erected from Montgomery in 1823, is the west 
half of the old town, bounds on Sullivan county, and its ori- 
ginal settlement treated of in connection with Montgomery. 
The name was from an old, numerous and respectable fami- 
ly of the name of Crawford, of Irish descent, who were 
among the first settlers. The whole town is more elevated 
than Montgomery, being on the eastern flank or slope of 
Shawangunk Mountain, before wholly run out. It is sepa- 
rated from Montgomery by the elevated range of upland 
running North and South, called Comfort's Hills, the line of 
separation follows the direction of the Hills. The land is 
not of so easy cultivation as that of the former town, more 
stony and broken up by high ridges running North and South. 
The soil, when divested of its native forests and cleared of 
stone, is strong and productive of grass and grain. A fine 
quality of butter is made here and in great abundance. The 
grasses are excellent and dairies large. This town is bene- 
fited in some respects by its elevated locality, and made more 
productive in the fruits of the earth. Being in the vicinity 
of the Shawangunk Mountains, it receives more numerous 
and copious showers throughout the year than localities fur- 
ther removed from their influence, and consequently suffers 
less drought. These physical causes operate benignly upon 
the grains and grasses, and generally prevent the lands from 
being burned up during the heats of summer. The Dwass 
Kill runs from South to North through the whole central por- 
tion of the town, and at Searsburgh furnishes a pleasant, 



TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 333 

useful and controlable water power, which has been in ben- 
eficial operation since the first settlement of the town. Fur- 
ther west, the Shawangunk Kill, the west bounds of the 
town, runs in the same direction and furnishes a much larger 
hydraulic power in many places along - its course. These in 
like manner were put to early use by the original settlers of 
the vicinity on both sides of the stream, which we have 
particularly noticed heretofore. As previously remarked, this 
was not generally settled as early as the piesent town of Mont- 
gomery, and its christian and civil facilities may not be as 
numerous, but time, the convenience and necessities of com- 
munity will supply all that is now deficient in these respects. 
The citizens are frugal and industrious, and determined to 
make the most of their inland position. The great mass of 
the people are engaged in the various departments of agri- 
culture, and have shown their improvements and capabilities 
in these departments by the receipt of prizes awarded them 
on several occasions by the agricultural society of the county 
for the best improved farms, best quality of butter, stock, 
grains, &c, all which, are public monuments of industry, 
skill and enterprise, highly honorable to the town and its cit- 
izens. The grasses in this town are free from noxious vege- 
tables, and growing upon high land are strong and produce 
a fine quality of milk. The town is noted in the markets 
for its first rate quality of butter. The farmers are growing 
more attentive to stock than formerly. The roads of the 
town are in good condition, and considering the distance from 
market it is imperative upon the inhabitants to keep them 
up to this standard at all times and seasons of the year. The 
Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike runs through a southern 
portion of the town, and furnishes desirable facilities for plea- 
sure and business purposes. This region is favorable to the 
growth of apples and peaches, the quality and quantity of 
which, especially the apple for winter use, are on the in- 
crease. The Rev. Isaac Van Doren, the former pastor of 
Hopewell Church, some thirty years since sat out an apple 
orchard on the parsonage farm of grafted choice fruits, which 
is now in fine bearing. He maybe considered the father of 
the winter apple in this town. 

Hopewell. — A small village in the northwest part of the 
town, and called after the Presbyterian meeting house there, 
of that name. This congregation was a swarm of the old hive 
at Goodwill in the town of Montgomery, among the oldest of 
that denomination in the county. The name is fanciful, 
and we suppose expressed their hopes and desires of future 



334 town or crawford. 

success and prosperity, on establishing a new place of wor- 
ship in a distant part of the town. It was the case of sons 
and daughters leaving- the old mansion so dearly beloved, 
and taking- up their abode in a new and distant land. Their 
hopes were well founded : the congregation is prosperous, 
and the institution well endowed. 

Bullville. — A small village on the turnpike, seven miles 
west of the village of Montgomery, and recently grown up. 
It has its name from Mr. Thomas Bull, who resides there, 
and conducts business of various kinds in the place. 

Searsbiu-cr/i. — Another small village in the centre of the 
town. It is upon a stream called the Dwass, Dwasse or 
Dwarf's Kill, where there is a flour and saw mill. The 
place received its name from Mr. Benjamin Sears, who resi- 
ded there and owned the mills, and was once Sheriff of this 
county. He wa§ the father of Doct. Sears of this county ; of 
William Sears, attorney at law, of the city of New York ; 
and of the Rev. Jacob Sears, of the Dutch Church, New Jersey. 

There is much to gratify and console, in the thought that 
we have given name even to a town or village — nay, to 
a piece of fruit or flower. It is proof that we have done some- 
thing in our day worthy of being remembered. To die and 
be forgotten, without leaving a name behind, is disreputa- 
ble. Every man ought to have more on his tombstone than 
Hie Jacet. If the public will not decree us more, we have 
lived in vain, cheated our country, and disappointed the 
fond hopes and just expectations of friends and kindred. — 
Alas ! how many leave the work assigned them undone, and 
depart without having earned a worthy remembrance ! 

Dwass Kill or Dwarf 1 's Kill. — This is quite an important 
stream in the town — runs north, and empties into the Wal- 
kill near Gatesville, Shawangunk. The name h Indian; — 
the meaning unknown. The tradition is, that it was named 
after the chief of a small tribe, that lived upon its banks in 
that part of the county. We are informed by a gentleman 
living in that part of the county, that his father, who was 
among the early settlers of what is now Crawford, told him 
that he had seen the chief of the tribe, called Dwasse; and 
that, there was a wigwam of the tribe, near what is called 
TurnpikeGate, No. 3 in that town, and he had seen it. 

Some say the name is Low Dutch, and means " perverse 
or contrary." We do not know that it is more perverse or 
headstrong than its relatives ; for they all practise the princi- 
ple of running down hill, without showing- unnecessary tem- 
per about it. 



TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 



335 



From the little experience that we have gained in getting 
up a paper like this, we are abundantly satisfied that it cannot 
be done with a degree of fulness and accuracy, without going 
into every locality in the county and gleaning materials 
up by personal inquiry and inspection. Short of this, im- 
perfection and error may be the result. The knowledge 
wanted is secreted and treasured up in the memory of the 
aged, scattered throughout the limits of the county; and 
personal application and enquiry are the only keys by which 
these treasures can be unlocked and their wealth obtained. 
A kindred institution in the centre or south-western part of 
the county, would largely facilitate the objects, generally, of 
this association. This must be done now, or never. This 
day the golden hours on eagle wings are passing away — to- 
morrow they are lost forever. 

Big Pekonasink. — Little Pekonasink. — These are small 
streams in the western part of the town — run north, and en- 
ter the Shawangunk Kill. The name is Indian ; the mean- 
ing not known. The land along these streams in Ulster 
"county is called Pekonasink, from the stream running through 
it. This word is a corruption of the Indian word Peakadas- 
ank. We have seen an old patent, dated 1694, of land in 
that vicinity, where the word is thus spelled ; and if we are 
any judge of the matter, pronounce it very pleasant and good 
Indian. 

Judgfinsr from some Indian names found in this town, there 
must have been many tribes residing along its streams ; but 
as there is little tradition in relation to them and their several 
localities, we will not detain the reader with any enumera- 
tion of them. 

Benjamin Sears, Esq. — This gentleman was rather a re- 
markable man : Nature had done a good deal for him ; and 
if his natural talents had been cultivated and enlarged by a 
suitable education, few men in the county would have ex- 
celled him in business operations. The reach of his mind 
was extensive, and his head clear, and could see the end from 
the beginning. But his education was very limited, and his 
memory his account book. His power of recollection was 
astonishing; somewhat owing, perhaps, to great cultivation 
and exercise. Whatever he once knew he never forgot ; so 
deeply was it engraven on his memory. 

Mr. Sears, in the early period of his life, had been a con- 
stable of the town of Montgomery, then including Crawford. 
Of the hundreds of executions in his hands during that time, 
thirty years afterwards he could tell by the force of memory 



336 TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 

every person he had had one against, and the amount mark- 
ed by the Justice on the bock of it in pounds, shillings and 
pence. Mr. Soars kept store for many years, and in the fall 
was in the habit of taking cattle from his customers in pay- 
ment of their accounts. One hundred head might be deliv- 
ered to him in this way in the course of a few days, and if 
they were passed through a pair of bars singly, so as to be 
distinctly seen, he could tell the precise age, t he person from 
whom purchased, and the one or more lost, if any, with the 
color, age and a minute description of each. We need not 
be astonished at this, for every faculty if daily cultivated and 
depended on as this was, is capable of exhibiting the same 
wonderful results. Let all appreciate the truth of this re- 
mark and be benefitted thereby. The family were pilgrims. 

Of this family there were five brothers, Benjamin, Samuel, 
John, James and Elnathan, all of whom were among the 
early settlers of Montgomeiy, and performed military duty 
during the Revolution. Their descendents are numerous, 
and found in every calling and pursuit of life, and while 
pome are abroad many of them are still in their native town. 

Joseph Elder, Esq. — This individual was of Irish origin, 
but at what time the family came into the country or town, 
we are not informed. During the Revolution he was a 
young man and some militia troops to which he belonged 
were ordered to the north. At a fixed time they were to be 
at Newburgh or New Windsor, and transported up the river 
on board a sloop provided for the purpose. Mr. Elder, for 
some cause, did not arrive at the place of rendezvous till too 
late to take his passage, the sloop had left with a fair wind 
and out of sight above the Danskammer. Go he must or be 
called a tory, and there was no recourse left him but to try 
the distance on foot. Elder, young, patriotic and of an iron 
frame of body, buckled on his knapsack, shouldered his mus- 
ket and started. Though the sloop made a q-ood passage for 
those times and had the best of the start, Elder beat her to 
Albany by several hours. 

The farm on which he lived was quite stony, though when 
cleared the land was kind and productive, and Elder like the 
rest of his neighbors, converted his useless stones into wall 
to fence his farm. In building these he scarcely ever nsed 
a team to gather and convey the stones to their destination. 
We have seen him with a large leather aprou girt about his 
loins, holding the end gathered up in one hand, while tum- 
bling the stones into it with the other, and when full raise 
himself erect, and without apparent effpet, carry them off lo 



TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 337 

the wall and put them in place. This course he would pur- 
sue from time to time till the walls were finished. He wa» 
industrious and eminently robust and powerful. Looking 
on his muscular and giant frame he reminded one of ancient 
Milo, who could lift a grown bullock over an ordinarily high 
fence. His children, of whom several are sons, partake of 
the magnitude and physical character of the father, with 
great family similitude in other respects. 

Mr. Elder had received but a very limited education, yet 
possessing strong natural good sense, he was fitted to dis- 
charge the duties of the various town offices to public satis- 
faction. He was many years a magistrate of the town, and 
if he erred at any time, the fault was of the head and not of 
the heart, for he was proverbially an upright and honest man. 

Dr. Joseph Whalen. — This gentleman came to this coun- 
try from Ireland at the close of the Revolutionary war, and 
located in this town, then a part of Montgomery. He did not 
remain many years before he moved near to the village of 
Montgomery, where he practised medicine for more than 
half a century, and died a few years since, when far ad- 
vanced in life, an honest and very respectable citizen. 

This individual was well educated in his profession before 
he came to this country, and during his life enjoyed an ex- 
tensive practice. The Doctor w T as a capital Latin scholar, a 
gentleman in all respects ; and we do not believe he ever of- 
fended another by the expression of a political opinion ; he 
strictly attended to his own personal affairs, and permitted 
others to do the same. He had two brothers also in this 
country — one at the South in East Florida, who, we believe, 
was a Catholic priest ; the other located in Canada, and now 
both are dead. 

In old times no physician expected to collect his bill of his 
patient during life, but rested contented with the hope of re- 
ceiving it from the executor or administrator. In the course 
of a long life and by an extensive practice notwithstanding, 
the Doctor accumulated a handsome estate ; the while, no 
physician, unless he practised without compensation, did 
more service for nothing. The Doctor in religious tenets, 
remained true to an early faith, and was a moderate and un- 
offending Catholic, never intruding his opinion upon others, 
or questioning theirs. 

Joseph Whalen, Esq., of Montgomery, is one of his chil- 
dren, and now lives upon his paternal estate. There were 
several other children, 

While in practice, the Doctor either rode on horseback, or 

w 



338 TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 

drove two horses. He was a capital horseman, and his ani- 
mals usually of the first order ior beauty and fast travel. — 
The individual who went a special messenger after him 
by day or night, was pretty sure to have the speed of his 
horse tested or arrive last. 

The Doctor rode a horse with great ease and elegance, 
and with a perfection in horsemanship rarely attained. It 
was said of him, he could mount his horse, take a wine glass 
in his hand, poured full of any liquid, and then start upon a 
lope, ride a quarter of a mile, turn and come back again 
without spilling a drop. This was quite up to Count Pu- 
laski, the celebrated Polish Gencial of the Revolution, who, 
while riding on horseback, would throw his hat before him 
on the road, and while under full speed, so far dismount as 
to take it up. The Count was t bought to be the best and 
most expert horseman in the American service. While the 
army were at Morristown, before coming to Newburgh, the 
■American officers frequently exercised themselves with the 
Count in performing the above hazardous feat, many of 
whom unhorsed themselves with broken heads in the exper- 
iment. 

Daniel Bull. — We cannot in this place omit an honora- 
ble mention of this gentleman, now one of the oldest inhabi- 
tants of the town, about 86 years of age. He was the son 
of Thomas Bull, who was the son of William Bull, the early 
settler at Hamptonburgh. His father lived at the old stone 
mansion in the now town of Hamptonburgh, on the road 
from Montgomery to Goshen, and known as the Cad Bull 
stone house. He removed to this town before he was of age 
upon a large tract of new rough land, then owned by his fa- 
ther, and located himself upon the lot where he now lives. 
His father Thomas was infirm towards the latter part of his 
life, and when about, to make his will and settle his worldly 
affairs, had thoughts of selling his land in Crawford, which 
was then worth about $2 50 per acre, and for which he 
had an offer ; and asked his son Daniel — then a lad of about 
fifteen years of age — whether he had better sell it or let 
him take care of it. Daniel replied, that if he would give it 
to him he " would try to take care of it." His father con- 
cluded to try him and made his will accordingly. This gave 
the young man confidence and increased his pride ; and the 
community at this day can judge of the manner in wjiich he 
fulfilled this early filial promise. In 1780, when nineteen 
years of nge, he married Miss Catharine Miller, who was 



TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 339 

younger still, and forthwith commenced clearing up his new 
estate. 

The winter of 1780 was celebrated all over this country 
for its length and the depth of its snow. ]t was so deep and 
hardened by the severity of the weather, that for some time 
the people of the county, in transacting- their necessary or 
pleasure business, drove their horses and sleighs in any and 
all directions across the fields irrespective of the fences. Mr. 
Bull and Miss Miller went to Goshen to be married by Mr. 
Carr of the Episcopal church, and that day a fall of snow 
commenced, which, with previous ones, deepened the road 
so much there was no travelling the next day. There the 
new married pair spent two weeks of the honeymoon. 

Thirteen children were the fruits of this early marriage, 
the most of whom grew up and were married. Their names, 
and to whom married, are as follows : 

Thomas married Sarah Mills; /Mary married Rev. John Johnston ; 

Hannah do Alex. Thompson*; Henry do Jane Stitt; -- 

Abner do Maria Rrinson ; Milton do Esther Crawford 

DavidC. do Maria Barkley; Sarah do Denton Mills ; 

Keturah do William Bull; Miller not married; 

Catharine do Jas. H. Crawford ; Daniel do Sarah Thompson ; 

John died young, 

Mr. Bull has been an industrious farmer from his early 
days and now enjoys its legitimate rewards — a long life, an 
honest character, abundant means and a numerous descent. 
As an evidence of his practical agriculture, we refer the 
reader to the list of prizes awarded him by the society, which 
we think are more numerous than those awarded to any 
other family in the county. Few individuals have cleared 
up and subdued more wild land, and placed it in a good 
agricultural condition for their children. The obligations 
of parent, citizen and friend, imposed on him through the 
course of a long life, have been duly and faithfully dis- 
charged ; while those of a superior and more holy character 
have equally shared his careful attention and pious regard. 
He must now be looked upon as the Patriarch of this town, 
with numerous descendents planted and growing up around 
him. He was an early friend to the construction of the New- 
burgh and Cochecton Turnpike Road, and with an interval 
of one year, has continued a director from the organization 
of the company — upwards of forty years. This company 
have semi-annual meetings, and with one or two exceptions 
at farthest he has always been present. This fact proves two 
things — good health and a virtuous discharge of public du» 



340 TOWN OK CRAWFORD. 

ties. But this gentleman is still living, in the enjoyment of 
a large portion of mental and physical strength, and we must 
forbear further remark, while we copy from a newspaper the 
following notice of him : 

"On Tuesday last, at Hopewell, in the town of Montgomery, a most in- 
teresting meeting took place, at the house of Daniel Bull. 

" Mr. and Mrs Bull had long contemplated having all their children and 
<rand children to visit them at the same time, and were then gratified with 
the sight. _ 

" These two individuals — neither of whom is yet sixty years of age — 
were married in the year 1780. They have had thirteen children, nine sons 
and daughters-in-law, and fifty-two grand children ; making in all a family 
of seventy-six. Of this number all are alive and in health except two ; one 
a child, and the other a grand child. The former died when about ten months 
old; the latter lived little more than as many days. 

" The health of this family is remarkable. Notwithstanding the great 
increase of their number, there had not occurred a single death in about thirty- 
three years. And the fact that a family of seventy-four persons should all 
be in health and able to attend on such an occasion, is truly wonderful and 
demands a grateful heart. 

" Another particular deserving of notice is, that seven of the children who 
are married, are settled in the immediate neighborhood of their parents ; the 
most distant is not more than two miles from the old mansion house. One 
of the other two children resides at the distance of eight miles and the 
other twenty. 

" A sermon adapted to the occasion was delivered by the Rev. John 
Johnston, one of the sons-in-law, from the first verse of the 133d Psalm : — 
Behold how good and how pleasant it isfyr brethren to dwell together in unity: 

" After divine service, the children and grand children, forgetting the dis- 
tinctions of parents and children, and members of separate families, mingled 
together in the recreations and pleasures of the moment, and felt that they 
were brethren, and under the roof of their common parents. 

" After taking their evening meal together they separated to return to their 
different places of residence, and their various callings. 

" Perhaps there cannot be found in our land, an instance of po large z. 
family so rapidly increased, so compactly settled together, enjoying such 
uninterrupted health, and assembled under circumstances so peculiar., as the 
instance before us." — Index of June 12, 1821. 



THE CHURCH OF HOPEWELL. 

The first effort to build a Presbyterian church in Hopewell 
was made about the year 1779. All, however, that was done 
nt this time was to raise and enclose a building, without fin- 
ishing the interior ; but in which the people occasionally en- 
joyed the preaching of the gospel. In this situation they 
continued till the year 1792, when they formed themselves 
into a body corporate, and chose the following persons as 
their board of trustees, viz : William Cross, Robert Milliken, 
Jonathan Crawford, Daniel Bull, Andrew Thompson, Na- 



TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 341 

than Crawford, Abraham Caldwell, Robert Thompson and ' 
Robert McCreary. 

At a meeting of the trustees held very soon after, they 
adopted measures to finish the inside of the building : and 
about the same time resolved upon the expediency of securing 
the regular preaching of the gospel. They accordingly 
made a call on the Rev. Jonathan Freeman, and, on his ac- 
cepting of the call, he was ordained and installed their pas- 
tor, August 28, 1793. Soon after his settlement among them, 
Mr. Freeman ordained Abraham Caldwell, William Cross, 
Robert Thompson, Jacob Linderman, John Crawford and 
Matthias Millspaugh, ruling elders ; and this appears to be 
the true date of the organization of the church. 

The ministry of Mr. Freeman was not of long continuance. 
The pastoral relation between him and the people was dis- 
solved on the 18th day of April, 1798. During the ministry 
of Mr. Freeman every thing seemed to progress comfortably ; 
and, at the time of his leaving them, the little church which 
at first consisted of twenty-one members, had grown to the 
number of one hundred and five. 

The resignation of Mr. Freeman left the church vacant for 
more than five years. At the expiration of this time the 
ehurch called the Rev. Isaac Van Doren. He was ordained 
and installed their pastor on the 29th of June, 1803. The 
ministry of Mr. Van Doren was long and happily protracted. 
He continued his labors among the people during the full 
period of twenty-one years, enjoying their warmest affections, 
and finding his ministry followed up with many blessings. 
In the year 1820 he enjoyed a very extensive revival of re- 
ligion among his people, which resulted in the addition of 
one hundred and fifty-two members to the church. But a 
time came, in the providence of God, for the severance of 
hearts so long and happily united. This occurred April 20, 
J825, when, at the request of Mr. Van Doren, the Presbytery 
dissolved his pastoral relation, and once more declared the 
Church of Hopewell to be vacant. 

Alter being vacant nearly two years, the church called the 
Rev. Hugh M. Koontz to become their pastor. He was or- 
dained and installed December 20, 1826; and after laboring 
among the people for nearly six years, his pastoral relation 
was, at his own request dissolved. This was done in thfc 
month of May, 1832. 

About this time the congregation took measures to build 
a new house of worship. In carrying out these measures, 
they abandoned the old site, and selected another one — on 



342 TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 

' which they erected a neat, commodious and firm building. 
This new building was commenced early in tbe Spring of 
1831, and was finished and dedicated to the worship of God 
the following year. 

The way being now open again for the administration of 
the word and ordinances, the congregation called the Rev. 
John H. Leggett to become their pastor. He was installed 
May 15, 1833, and continues to be their pastor up to the 
present time. 

The following persons are their ruling elders, viz : Robert 
J. Crawford, Nathaniel Hunter, Nicholas Seybolt, Hieroni-, 
mus Weller, David C. Bull, Alexander Crawford and Samuel 
K. Sevbolt. 



GRAHAM'S CHURCH, ASSOCIATE REFORMED. 

This congregation was formed and church erected in 179!). 
and principally by the exertions of Mr. Robert Graham, who. 
at the time was"an elder in the congregation of Goodwill. — 
The name was bestowed in honor of this individual on the 
day the building was erected. Mr. Graham resided within 
the bounds of this congregation. Soon after erection, and 
before being finished, it was opened by public worship on 
the fourth of August, 1799. The Rev. John McJimsey, of 
Neelytown Church, preached the sermon. Mr. Robert Gra- 
ham died on the 22d of September, 1799, and by his will de- 
vised his farm of about one hundred acres, in the vicinity of 
the church, to the congregation, for the use of the pastor. — 
The individuals who composed this new congregation, prin- 
cipally, were of the number personally in the habit of wor- 
shipping at Neelytown. By an arrangement made with that 
church, the Graham congregation procured the half of Mr. 
McJimsey \s ministerial labors — preaching every alternate 
Sabbath for each. Before the erection of the church, Mr. 
McJimsey held meetings in private houses, and sometimes in 
the barns of the neighborhood. 

When the congregation was formed it was in connection 
with the Neelytown church, and had no distinct organization 
separate from Neelytown till 1802, when the first elders were 
ordained. They were Samuel Gillespie and Andrew Dixon. 

Mr. Wm. Crawford, who had previously been ordained 

an elder in the Little Britain congregation, became a member 

• I the session and united with them. Though, by this act. 

rendered a distinct body, they still remained connected with 

Neelytown in supporting a common pastor. This was the 



TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 



343 



most prudent and desirable course for each ; for neither was 
sufficiently strong to give a good support to one pastor. At 
the first administration of the sacrament, there were twenty- 
eight members. The growth of the congregation, though 
not rapid, was progressive. 

In 1809 Mr. McJimsey received and accepted a call from 
an Associate congregation in Albany, and his pastoral con- 
nection with these churches was dissolved. This did not 
arise from any dissatisfaction between any of the parties, but 
was sincerely regretted by all. Within a year the Rev. Ar- 
thur J. Stansberry was called to this church in connection 
with Neelytown, who continued his services till 1816. From 
that time till 1819, the church was vacant, with occasional 
supplies ; when she, in connection with Neelytown, recalled 
the Rev. J. McJimsey, who resumed his ministerial labors as 
before between the two churches. When he left 
before, there were fifty-seven members : on 
found but twenty-one, and the first elders dead. Death and 
removals had almost extinguished the whole. 

In 1831 the Neelytown church was permitted to go down 
by building a new one in Hamptonburgh ; and from that 
time Graham's church had all the services of Mr. McJimsey, 
their present pastor. 



, ten years 
his return, he 



AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 



1820. Daniel Bull, 
do 
Isaac Van Doren, 
Moses Crawford, 
Alex. Thompson, 

1821.1 Henry Bull, 

Alex. Thompson, 

Daniel Bull, 

do 

do 
Moses Crawford, 
Sam'J Stephenson, 

1822. Henry Bull, 
Moses Crawford, 

Henry Bull, 
Daniel Bull, 
Moses Crawford, 
Mr. Gillespie cxhi 

1823. Daniel Bull, 

do 



Best Farm of One Hundred Acres, 

Second best fat Oxen, 

Best Bam, 

Second best Flannel, 

Best pair of Blankets, 

Second best farm of One Hundred Acres, 

Best and greatest quantity of Indian Corn, 

from two acres, 
Second best Potatoes, 
Best six Calves, 
Best working Oxen, 
Best Blankets, 

Second best dairy Butter, from four cows, 
Best three acres of Winter Wheat, 
2,051 pounds of Butter from twenty Cows. 

A large family used the season's butter. 
Best six Calves, 
Second do 
Best White Flannel, 

bited specimens of very beautiful sewing silk. 
Second Best Corn, 87i bushels per acre, 
Best Potatoes, 410 do do 



$20 


00 


8 


00 


5 


00 


4 


00 


3 


00 


10 


00 


15 


00 


5 


00 


10 


00 


15 


00 


3 


00 


10 


00 


10 


00 


10 


00 


8 


00 


5 


00 


6 

ilk- 


00 


Ill. 

5 


00 


S 


00 



344 



TOWN OF CRAWFORD. 



1823. Henry Bull, 
John Shorter, 
Moses Crawford, 

"~v Absalom Weller, 
Moses Crawford, 
do do 

do do 

Alex. Thompson, 
Wm. Gillespie 
do do 

1824. Daniel Bull, 
Alex. Thompson, 
Henry Bull, 



Second best Potatoes, 240 bushels per acre, 

Clover Seed, 

Third best piece of dressed Woolen Cloth, 

Best pieceof White Flannel, 

Second do do 

Best Woolen Coverlid,'] 

Best piece of Linen, 

Second do 

Third do 

Second best Sewing Silk, 

Best four Calves, 

Best Potatoes, 480 bushels per acre, 

Second do 440 do do 



$4 


00 


10 


00 


4 


00 


5 


00 


o 


00 


3 


00 


5 


00 


3 


00 


2 


00 


3 


00 


6 


00 


8 


00 


4 


00 



TOWN OF WALKILL. 



This town originally extended South to the line of Mini- 
sink, and included the now towns of Montgomery and Craw- 
ford. In 1772 the " Walkill Precinct" was divided by an 
act of the Assembly into two, and one called the " Hanover 
Precinct," and the other the "Walkill Precinct." 

The surface of this town is very uneven and broken, and 
though not mountainous, yet very hilly. The hills are high 
and long, and in direction, North and South ; in which they 
are ruled by the physical law which governs all the ridges 
and hills in this region of country. The soil is of every va- 
riety ; but not as warm and genial for the production of 
grain as some other towns, and is best conditioned for grass 
and stock. We have not observed the same rapid improve- 
ment in general agriculture in this, which is seen in other 
places ; still, this remark has many notorious exceptions, 
while the whole may be considered respectable on compari- 
son. The central portion of the town, North and South, 
lies very high, and slopes gradually to the East and West; 
which makes its physical outline a ridge of moderate eleva- 
tion, fluted with long vallies and lesser ridges. As a conse- 
quence of such general surface outline, we find the streams 
in the eastern and western sections. The Shawangunk Kill 
divides it from Sullivan county, while the Walkill at the 
East separates it from Hamptonburgh. Independent of these 
streams, there are no others worth noticing. 

During (he war of the Revolution this town was patriotic, 
and nobly bore her share of public duty. Col. Wm. Faulk- 
ner — then a Captain — was in the service at the taking of 
Fort Montgomery by the English, and received a bayonet 
wound in the side, which affected him more or less through 
life, though he lived to be an old man. He was brave, fear- 
less, and a true patriot. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT. 

This town was not settled as early as many others, and 
the operation when commenced was slow in execution. 
William Bull, of Goshen, procured a small patent of about 



S46 TOWN OF WALKILL. 

five hundred acres in this town, lying East and West, in a. 
long strip on both sides of the Walkill River, which he gave 
to his two sons, William and Thomas Bull. William was 
the ancestor of William, Moses, James and Charles of the 
last generation ; and Thomas, of Daniel, Cadwallader and 
Absalom. 

Though the patent was unequally divided by the stream — 
there being about three hundred acres on the west side and 
two hundred on the east — yet they divided their rights by 
the stream ; William taking the western, and Thomas the 
eastern portion. 

William built his first house nearly in the vicinity of the 
brick mansion of his grandson William Bull, deceased, on 
the high bank of the Walkill, and now occupied by his widow 
Airs. Keturah Bull. 

Thomas built also near the residence of the present stone 
house, known as the Cadwallader Bull house, on the road 
from Goshen to Montgomery. 

He afterwards built that stone house. He was a mason 
by trade ; and it is said, that for several years previous to 
erecting it, he was engaged in preparing the stone. He kept 
his hammer in the field, and when disengaged from other 
business, would shape a few stones for the purpose, by which 
process, continued through several years, the materials were 
all prepared and ready for the building, so that in the pro- 
cess of erection the sound of a hammer was not heard on the 
building. The material is limestone, and the work as per- 
fect now as when erected. These two brothers were in the 
town as early as 1767. 

Farther south there was an early settlement, made by Mr. 
John McCord, the father of Andrew McCord, Esq., of the 
last generation on the farm now owned by Col. Wilbur. — 
The family, we believe, is Scotch. The building in which 
he lived, like that of almost all others at the time, was loop- 
holed for musquetry. This family was attacked one night by 
some Indians, but the neighbors hearing of it, came in time 
to drive them oft' and save the family. In the morning a 
track of blood was found leading in the direction of the high 
hill, directly in the rear of the house, then covered with 
wood, and it was found that an Indian had been killed. The 
hill is called " Jerrard's Hill," after the name of the Indian. 

On the farm now owned by Stephen Harlow, Esq., on 
McCormick's Kill, where there was an ancient Hour mill, 
there was an early settlement. At the organization of the 
town it was owned by Mr. John McNeal, whose descendents. 



TOWN OF WALKILL. 347 

in name at least, have nearly run out in the town and coun- 
ty. They were connected with another old family by the 
name of Borland, who resided in that vicinity, the depen- 
dents of which are yet numerous, though widely dispersed. 
Charles Borland, Esq., the present Surrogate of the county, 
and Col. Charles Borland, of Texas, of the army now in 
Mexico, under General Taylor, are of that family. The 
original settler was from the Emerald Isle. Israel Rogers 
and Daniel Butterfield lived in that vicinity also. 

At the place now known as Phillipsburgh on the Walkill, 
there was an early settlement. We believe the locality be- 
longed to an old family by the name of Wisner, the ancestor 
of Jeffrey Wisner, Esq. of Warwick, and the late Henry G. 
Wisner, Esq. of Goshen. Mr. Moses Phillips married in the 
family, and received Phillipsburgh along with his lady as a 
portion of her estate. 

The place was known as Hampton in 1806, but from the 
number of families of the name of Phillips at the location, it 
became changed. The place is most beautifully and roman- 
tically situated, and is one of the lovely spots for a country 
residence. It is on a small level piece of land, on the west 
bank of the stream, surrounded on all sides by hills and 
graceful knolls. Mr. Phillips had several sons — George, 
Gabriel, William and Moses were among the number — all 
active and enterprising men, and engaged at the place in 
some, one of the various departments of manufactures. 

The Saxon Burg is added to the name of the individual 
to form the name of the place. 

In the year 1776 Mr. Phillips and Henry Wisner had a 
contract with the government of the colony for the manufac- 
ture of powder at this place, where they made and furnished 
it to the satisfaction of the old Congress. On one occasion 
Mr. Wisner, corresponding witli Congress on the subject of 
powder, said that he had three thousand pounds ready, and re- 
marked that they must excuse his writing, as he had but two 
half sheets of paper, and when they were gone he did not 
know where he could get another, and therefore could not 
afford to transcribe his letter. This excuse, doubtless, was 
satisfactory. The family is of English origin, very early in 
the country, and came from New Jersey into this county. 

These two individuals were recommended to Congress as- 
most worthy of the contract, by the committee of Ulster coun- 
ty ; while Messrs, W T isner and Carpenter were recommended 
by the committee from Orange. In the latter case, the business 



348 TOWN OF WALKILL. 

was to be conducted at Carpenter-s saw mill in Goshen, on 
the head waters of the Otter Kill. 

The settlement made near Middletown by Mr. Murray was 
quite early. This gentleman was a descendent of George 
Murray of Inverness, Scotland, and came to Canada as an 
impressed soldier with the English troops to take Quebec, 
and drive out the French from the colony. In the assault 
on Quebec by General Wolf in 1759, Murray nobly dis- 
charged the duty of an English soldier, and afterwards came 
and settled in this town, giving origin to numerous and re- 
spectable families. Mr. A. Spencer Murray, cashier of the 
Orange County Bank, is a descendent of this individual. 

Scotchtown. — We cannot learn from any of the present in- 
habitants at what time this region was first settled. The 
name of Scotchtown is appropriated to a small cluster of 
houses in the immediate vicinity of the Presbyterian church, 
and took its rise as near as we can ascertain from the build- 
ing of the church. When this was erected and the congre- 
gation was organized, the question was asked, " What shall 
we call the church ? " — and as there was at that time a num- 
ber of Scotch families residing in the neighborhood, it was 
proposed to call the place Scotchtown, and the church was 
named accordingly. The names of the families were McCar- 
ter, McVey, McWhorter, Mclnnis, McLaughlin, McCord, etc. 

There are about fifteen dwelling houses at this place, a 
Post Office, etc. This place is on very elevated ground, being 
nearly one thousand feet above tide water. A rise of ground 
upon the farm of the late Rev. Mr. Baldwin commands a view 
in every direction of a large part of Orange county, and a por- 
tion of Dutchess, which is from twenty to thirty miles distant. 
The view embraces a perfect amphitheatre, and well repays 
for the labor of a visit. 

la 1843 the fossil remains of a Mastodon Maximus were 
dug from a marl bed on the farm of Mr. William Connor, 
about one fourth of a mile from this place. They are now in 
the cabinet of Professor Emmons of Albany. 

Mrs. Mclnnis was a strong minded, open hearted young 
woman, free and pure as the mountain air of her native 
Highlands. It is said that after the marriage ceremony had 
been performed, and she became Mrs. Mclnnis, her husband 
informed the clergyman that he had thoughts of emigrating 
to America, who endeavored to dissuade him by all the off- 
hand arguments he was possessed of, but all to no purpose. 
Finding him fixed in his determination to leave the country, 
and withal a little vexed at his obstinacy and improper ap- 



TOWN OF WALKILL., 349 

preciation of argument, he turned away from him, and ad- 
dressing 1 himself to Mrs. Mclnnis, said : 

" If your husband goes, as I fear he will, you ought not t© 
go with him, but stay at home." 

To this she replied in fervent strains, dictated by her new 

born feelings fresh gushing from the heart — " Sir, you have 

just united us for weal or woe and for life, and will you be 

the first to break the bonds yourself have made? I will follow 

him, sir, if he goes to the ends of the earth*" 

The clergyman stood rebuked by the strong affection of 
the Scottish maid, and the argument closed. Though hard 
and trying to the feelings it may have been, yet this new 
married couple soon left for America, and with others stamped 
the impress of their native land upon the hill tops of this, 
never to be effaced. This reply of Mrs. Mclnnis was worthy 
a Roman matron — and had there been a golden book in 
Scotland, as there had once been in Venice, her name ought, 
to have been registered in it. Mr. Mclnnis doubtless ran 
over in his mind the sentiments contained in the following 
lines : 

" Oh ! Mary, I hae lo'edjfhee lang, 

Thou'rt ay the burthen o' my sang, 

And day or night, where'er I gang, 
I think of naught but Mary. 

When sleep seals up my weariede'e, 

In dreams thy angel form I see, 

And in fond raptures say to thee, 
Oh ! dinna leave me Mary." 

Peter McLaughlin died March 1, 1804, in the seventieth 
year of his age. In him society lost a valuable member, as 
he was a truly pious and honest man. 

The White family, though early in the country are not old 
settlers in this town. The ancestor James "White, who came 
to this country from Ireland, located in Montgomery as early 
as 1741, near the town line of Walkill. Major John White 
of this town, of the last generation, was a descendent, and 
removed here after the Revolution, when this part of the 
town was yet a wilderness. The first purchase of Mr. James 
White is owned by his descendents. The first house erected 
was just East and South of the present residence of M. An- 
drew White on the North bank of Manyunk's Kill. This is 
a small stream that runs easterly through the farm and enters 
the Walkill. It furnishes a small water power at some points 
of its course : Mr. Pitts has a saw mill on it. 

There was also an early settlement made at Campbell's 
Hall on the Otter Kill. This was known by that name at 



350 town or WALK ILL. 

the organization of the old Walkill Precinct in 17G7. — 
'The name was after the owner of the location. Col. Camp- 
hell was a Scotchman, had two sons, and when the war of 
the Revolution commenced, one sided with England ; the 
•r with his adopted country. The tory brother would 
not speak or hold any intercourse with his republican rela- 
tive. The sentiments of this brother were changed by the 
happy results of the Revolution. 

Adjoining Campbell's Hall, and a little farther down the 
road east, Samuel Wat kins located at an early period and 
made an extensive settlement. This gentleman was of En- 
lish origin, the family — consisting of several brothers — emi- 
grated to New England, and four of their children removed 
to this county. They were in this town in 17G7, and their 
names were Samuel. Ephraim, Joseph and Hezekiah. All 
of that name in the county are descendents of these individ- 
uals. The Rev. Hezekiah Watkins mentioned in the history 
of St. George's Church was an uncle of these four brothers. 

A small portion of the original purchases is still in the 
possession of the family descendents. 

Still further East the Faulkner family made an early settle- 
ment, and their descendents are still in the town. From 
Campbell's Hall down, including these settlements, the land 
is beautiful and very kind, and richly compensates the culti- 
vator. The family descendents — of whom Col. William 
Faulkner, of the last generation, was one — are not numerous 
and the name is fast running out in the county. 

Michigan. — A small cluster of houses on the turnpike 
leading from Montgomery to Mount Hope, about nine mile? 
Southwest of Montgomery. The situation is very elevated 
— on the very apex of Three Mile Hill. The name is said 
to have had this origin : Mr. Malcolm McLaughlin, a native 
of this town, being in debt some fifteen or twenty years 
since, gave out that he was going to Michigan. He staid 
away some time, and then came back and sat up the first 
tavern at the place. Out of contempt, or in remembrance of 
his long and tedious journeyings to and from Michigan, 
where he had never been, and to erect a lasting monument 
of his dubious conduct, the people called his new residence 
Michigan : since which time the place has grown up till it 
now assumes the appearance of a small village. 

Mechanic Town. — A small village one mile east of Phillips 
burgh, on the Walkill. Messrs. Otis and Miller, enterpri- 
sing men of their day, started a trip hammer there and made 
scythes. Other manufactories soon started up at the place ; 



TOWN OF WALKILL. 351 

workmen were employed, and houses built for their accom- 
modation; and in a few years there sprang - up a village of 
industrious mechanics — and common consent, named the 
place Mechanic Town. Few places have a more honorable 
or better earned name. 

Damstown. — A settlement in the north part of the town. — 
The first settler was Nicholas Davis, who had four sons — 
three of whom were soldiers in the war of the Revolution, 
and drew pensions therefor, under the laws of Congress. The 
families were all poor, and fond of the creature comforts by a 
kind of natural inheritance. In old times when the tow r ns 
maintained their own poor, the Davis families cost this town 
a large sum of money in the course of twenty or thirty years. 
This settlement was made upon a gore of land between two 
patents, for which the occupants paid nothing. They were 
what are now commonly called squatters. The families are 
fast running out. Those who survive and are so fortunate 
as to save something, may be reputable persons and valuable 
citizens. This is the destiny of all families under our free 
government, some going up and others down every day. 

Millsburgh. — A settlement a mile or two North of Scotch- 
town, and had its name from the descendents of Jacob Mills, 
among the fiiot settlers in that part of (he town, many of 
whom are wealthy and reside there. The addition of the 
Saxon Burg perfects the name and we have Millsburgh. 

Van Buren Ville. — A small village in the western part of 
the town, where there was a post office of that name, which 
the village assumed as it grew up. The post office was 
named after the Hon. Martin Van Buren of this State. 

Honey Pot. — This is a settlement principally of blacks in 
a valley on the western side of a steep ridge, running North 
and South, and in the central port of the town. Many years 
since Col. McLaughrey of New Windsor freed his slaves, 
which was lawful in New York, and gave them money to 
purchase land to live on and maintain themselves. They 
located at this place. The old families, we believe, not only 
maintained themselves, but became well off in a pecuniary 
point of view, and were much respected by their white 
neighbors. But in later years the children have not done as 
well as their fathers, and are fast degenerating to the level 
of others of their race, spending their property and selling 
out. The location is rough and stony and the land poor. — 
We have not been so fortunate as to learn the reason why 
such a melliferous name was bestowed upon such a rude and 
sour locality. 



352 TOWN OF WALK1LL. 

It had this name at the organization of the precinct of 
Hanover in 1767, and doubtless was from some little incident 
happening in the valley — such as finding one or more trees 
in which the honey bees had made their residences. The lo- 
cality was stony and low. 

Stony Ford, now Stony Ford Bridge. — Many years since 
the Walkill.was forded at this place, which is one mile di- 
rectly west of Legrange, formerly Goosetown. At this place 
there is a rift running across the Walkill, which is literally 
paved with cobble stone, firm and hard as a rough pave- 
ment. The ford is not used, as there is a bridge by which 
the stream is passed. The place has been long known by 
this name — as early as 1767 — and the fact above stated fur- 
nishes a good reason. 

Indian Spring. — This spring is on the farm of the Hon. 
Judge Slaughter of the Common Pleas of this county. The 
farm is situated east of where the turnpike leading from 
Montgomery to Mount Hope, crosses Three Mile Hill, and 
east of Michigan. The spring has always been known 
by this name, and Mr. Slaughter when a boy recollects an 
Indian hut near it, where some of the foundation stones are 
still to be seen. In ploughing up a field on this farm for the 
first time, bushels of Indian arrows were found, in length 
varying from two to six inches. An axe of the hardest flint, 
and as large as the hand, was also found, which is now lost 
or carried away as a curiosity. 

The tradition in the neighborhood is, that in the vicinity of 
this spring, and on Mr. Slaughter's farm, a tribe of Indians 
lived, the name of which is lost. — That some of the Indians, 
for some cause not now known, became offended with the 
family of Daniel Butterfield, who lived there on the farm 
now owned by Stephen Harlow ; and determined to revenge 
themselves by murdering the family, [t was in mid summer, 
and when the grain fields were full grown. One day a bush 
was seen by the family at an unusual place in the grain field 
near the house where the individual did not recollect to have 
seen one before, and it attracted his attention. While he 
thought upon it and stood for a little time gazing in that di- 
rection, he thought he saw the bush move slowly towards 
the house. He instantly concluded there was mischief of 
some kind, if not death, as well as an Indian under the bush ; 
and soon as possible, without noise, entered the house, and 
informed the inmates of what he had seen and what he ex- 
pected. Preparations for attack and defence proper to meet 
the emergency were made in a moment. One took his gun, 






TOWN OF WALKILL. 352 

well loaded for execution, and proceeded to where he could 
see the bush, and where it was moving- directly towards him 
and the house. Here, in secret and profound silence, he 
waited till the bush should approach so near as to develope 
its friendly or hostile character, and ensure success in case he 
had to fire upon it. The needful preparations, as far as 
limited means and the approach of sudden danger admitted, 
were arranged by the family in the house. To each a duty 
was assigned, and aware of the responsibility, they individu- 
ally assumed to discharge it as in a case of life and death. 

The bush continued to move steadily and silently forward, 
and in the direction of the house — circumstances of awful 
import to all concerned. A thrill of deepest excitement 
passed like lightning through the bosom of the watchman, 
as he saw the danger approach slowly and with apparent 
design, and thought of the consequence of any failure on 
his part to arrest its progress. The same all-absorbing and 
breathless anxiety filled the inmates of the dwelling, where 
the silence of death reigned — no one daring to breathe. The 
time for action came ; the watchman, with excited coolness, 
and eye upon the sight of his musket, drew up ; took the 
deadly aim : the bush fell, and on taking it up an enemy, 
and as suspected, a red man of the forest, with instruments 
of death in his hand, was found beneath it. We need not 
Kay there was joy and rejoicing in that house. 

At that early day stratagems and devices were few among 
our ancestors, and seldom practised in secret. The Indians, 
-on the contrary, were noted for taking this mode of revenge, 
or to inflict an injury. All appearances and incidents of an 
unusual, insidious or horrid character were therefoie instantly 
charged upon the Indians, as we charge all artful and dia- 
bolical deeds upon the devil, as the principal and common 
enemy. We th'nk our ancestors were as often right in then- 
suspicions as we are. 

Middletown. — A large village in the southern part of thii 
town, about eleven miles south of the village of Montgomery 
and six miles west of Goshen, and pleasantly situated in an 
open, level and rich portion of the town. This village, since 
the construction of the New York and Erie Railroad, has in- 
creased in extent, population and business most surprisingly, 
and threatens to rival all its immediate neighbors. Its citi 
zens are industrious and enterprising, and doing a prosperous 
and healthy business. 

It has it3 name from the fact that if. is situated midway 
between Montgomery and Mount Hope. This village is no*. 

x 



354 TOWN OF WALKILL,. 

of recent date, nor of mushroom grow til. We do not know 
when it was first founded, but believe that Mr. Stacy Beaks, 
once Sheriff of the county, and a family bv the name of 
Wells, living at the place or in the vicinity, were (he great 
patrons of the village thirty years since. Since which time 
other enterprising men located there, and assisted to build 
up and carry forward the interests of the place. 

Three Mile Hill. — This hill lies North and South, and took 
its name from its length. It is West and Southwest of the 
farm of Mr. Asa Hasbrouck, ai the distance of one mile.' — 
Michigan, as before remarked, and Scotchtown arc on the 
high portions of this hill. 

McCorlin's Kill. — This is a small creek East ol Three Mile 
Hill — crosses the turnpike beyond Asa Hasbrouck's, where 
he has a saw mill on it — runs East and enters the Walkill 
one mile and a half above Stony Ford Bridge. Between 
Hasbrouck's and where it enters the Walkill, and on the 
farm now owned by Stephen Harlow, formerly John McNeal, 
there was an ancient flour mill. The name is from a man 
who lived somewhere upon it many years since. 

Mount Joy. — The name is from the Latin Mans, a moun- 
tain, and the French Joye, gladness, gaiety. 

The tradition is, that before the Revolution a party of 
men out in the wilderness on business of some kind, got lost, 
and for a long time could not conjecture their whereabouts. 
Wandering along in this bewildered and unaccountable state 
of mind, they came to this elevation, and thinking it a good 
place to look abroad upon the wilderness around, climbed to 
its summit, from which they saw the Walkill, and instantly 
knew where they were. They called the hill Mount Joy. 
to express the state of their feelings upon this discovery, and 
it has been so called ever since. This eminence is a mile 
East of Phillipsburgh. 

Hopper Hill. — This is just across the kill fiom Phillips- 
burgh, and has its name from a ravine in the rear of the hill, 
which in shape resembles the hopper of a grist mill. How 
prcne some persons are to see, or fancy they see, similarities 
in unlike and different objects! This is a peculiar and in- 
telligent trail of character, depending upon gocd vision and 
quick mental perception, and not (infrequently a very useful 
talent. 

Circlcville. — Circleville is half way between Scotchtown 
and Bloomingburgh. At the place there is a church on the 
property of Mr. Samuel Bull, the great patron of the locality 
and church. This congregation was a secession of such per- 



TOWN OF WALKILL. 355 

sons belonging to the church of Scotchtown, who were friend- 
ly to the new General Assembly of the Presbyterians. The 
place was formerly called Hollow Belly , out of contempt and 
to express- the broken, stony and ungenial nature of the 
country, and the difficulty of getting fat at the locality and 
parts adjacent. We do not know why it is called Circleville. 

Bull-hack. — This is a region of country just South of Circle- 
ville, and was named from the families of Bulls who lived 
there, and to express the hard and unyielding character of 
the land. The region for miles around is high, stony and 
hard to subdue, with vallics equally rough and forbidding ; 
and there are no means " any way you can fix it " for even 
an industrious man to live without starving, and get a fami- 
ly through the year, except by digging and hacking. An in- 
dolent fellow might as well " give it up," as to locate there. 

George F. Reeve, of this town, has the honor of invent- 
ing the Dog machine, somewhere between 1820 and 1824. 
Though this is a small affair, yet it is a happy application of 
mechanical power to relieve household labor in the manu- 
facture of butter. We are surprised that the housewives of 
the county have not, by some public act spontaneous and 
universal, expressed their gratitude to this gentleman for his 
invention. Had he lived in ancient times he would have been 
decreed a public benefactor, or the nation would have erected 
a monument to his memory. Services not. half so valuable 
have deified an individual, and sent him down to our time 
us an immortal being. The invention has certainly taken 
one half of female labor from the dairy, and rendered the 
manufacture of milk into butter an amusement rather than 
servile labor. We commend all inventions which contribute 
in any useful degree to relieve our wives and daughters from 
the hard and most laborious portions of house-keeping in 
the city or country. 

Andrew McCord. — This gentleman was a plain, unosr 
fentatious farmer, who, by a long course of honest industry, 
and intelligent discharge of private and public duties, en- 
deared himself to all his fellow citizens with whom he be- 
came acquainted. He was mild, pleasant, and even tempered ; 
polite and gentlemanly. As the legitimate consequence of 
a virtuous private and public life, offices of honor and high 
trust were conferred upon him, which he discharged with 
fidelity and to the satisfaction of his constituents. Mr. Mc- 
Cord belonged to the Republican party in politics ; and was 
elected to Congress in 1803. After his term was out, his po- 
litical friends were so well pleased with his conduct, tha^ 



856 TOWN OF WALKILL. 

they elected him in 1805 to the State Legislature, and con- 
tinued him in 1806 and 1807. The last year he served in 
that office he was elected Speaker of the House — no small 
compliment to his general character at that early day. — 
Nominations and elections to office were more pure and free- 
willed formerly than at present. The beaten path to public 
favor was then guarded by the broad expression of the pop- 
ular will, and if a candidate could not command it, his chance 
of election was small indeed, for the mere force of party 
could not elect him as now. The opposite course has been, 
mid still is, in the full tide of experiment, and whether it 
will finally succeed and permanently prevail we can only 
udge in part. We think we see the end from the beginning, 
and that the people with awful retribution will reverse the 
present order of things in many particulars. 

PRESBYTERIAN" CHURCH. 

.Some time in the year 1796 a meeting was held at the 
house of Mr. George Houston, for the purpose of organizing 
t congregation, and also lo make arrangements to build a 
;ouse of worship. There being some difference of opinion 
respecting the ecclesiastical connexion which should be 
sought for the congregation, Mr. Jacob Mills offered a reso- 
lution that it should be under the care of the Presbytery of 
Hudson, connected with the General Assembly of the Pres- 
byterian Church, which resolution was adopted. A building 
vas erected and enclosed, but not completed until sevi 
years after. It was the same building in which the congre- 
gation now worship. 

According to the records of the Presbytery of Hudson, 
April 19th, 1798, " Messrs. Jacob Mills and George Houston, 
commissioners from a Presbyterian Church in the town of 
Walkili, who have lately erected a house of worship, ap- 
peared and requested that said church might be taken under 
the care of Presbytery, and that supplies might be appointed 
them." Their request was granted, and the Rev. Mr. Kerr, 
of Goshen, by appointment of Presbytery, preached the first 
sermon in the new church building. 

At a meeting of Presbytery, April 17th, 1779, the Rev. 
Methuselah Baldwin was appointed to supply the church 
statedly, and continued to officiate until a call was made out 
and laid before Presbytery in April, 1803. Mr. Baldwin 
accepted the call, and was installed pastor, June 30th, 1803. 
The Rev. Mr. Freeman preached and gave the charge to the 



TOWN OF WALKILL. 357 

people ; the Rev. Mr. Kerr gave the charge to the pastor. — 
Mr. Baldwin has continued to be the pastor of this church up 
to the present time — a period of nearly fifty years — which, in 
these days of change speaks loudly in favor of both pastor 
and people. 

In 1838, Mr. Baldwin's strength failing him on account of 
advanced age, E. E. G. Prime was called by the church to 
be a collegiate pastor, and was ordained and installed June 
12th, 1839. 

The church appears not to have been regularly organized 
until the day of Mr. Baldwin's installation, when the follow- 
ing ruling elders were chosen, viz : — Messrs. John White, 
David R. Arnell, George Houston and Peter McLaughlin. — 
The last named died before the ordination of the elders took 
place. 

The elders chosen since were Ephraim Everett, .A dam Mill- 
spaugh, Enos Ayres, Stephen Harlow, James Boak, Samuel 
Millspaugh, John McWilliams, Jason Corwin and Joshua 
Hornbeck. 

The church January 1st, 1805, numbered forty-four mem- 
bers. From that time to the present there have been added 
to it, upon profession of religion, four hundred and twenty- 
six-. It now numbers about two hunched. 

The house of the senior paster of this church has twice 
been destroyed by fire, in both of which cases all the records 
of the church were burned. 

The church has a parsonage house, built in 1839, and a 
lot of land containing about five acres. 

Names of Persons on the Town Record as early as 1767. — Na- 
thaniel Wells, George Smith, William Dean, Ned Hopper, Benjamin Booth. 
Samuel Watkins, John McNeal, William Faulkner, James Wilkins, John 
Patterson, Daniel Butteifield, William Munnel, James Reeves, Jonathan 
Webb, Barney Roe, James Eager, Jacob Linderman, Henry Patterson. 
Thomas_Bull, William Bull, James Faulkner, Charles Borland, William 
Borland, Henry Savage, David Moore, Kia Gale, John McCord, Ned Mc- 
Neal, John Booth, Mose« Phillips, Joseph Shooter, James Mc Cord, David 
Crawford, John McGarrah, John Booth, Patrick Bodle. 

It is proper to apprise the reader that in Walkill, Mont- 
gomery and New Windsor we do not give the names of the 
old patriots, who signed the pledge to abide by the acts and 
doings of the old Continental Congress, as we have done in 
Newburgh. The reason is, their names are not found in the 
published proceedings of that body, which contain the names 
of signers in the other towns. The probability is, the re- 
turns made by the committees of safety for those three towns 



358 



TOWN OF WALKILL. 



were lost or mislaid at the time of publication ; for we dare 
not say that they were so patriotic in 1775 as not to be re- 
quired to give a pledge — that would be invidious. 



AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 



1820. Samuel Mills, 
Bates Hoyt, 
William Horton, 
Stephen Ingersoll, 
Samuel J. Miller, 
Moses Phillips, 
Philip Miller, 
Samuel J. Miller, 
William Horton, 
Gabriel N. Phillips, 
Samuel Mills, 

-—.Absalom Weller, 
do do 
do do 

1821. do do 
do do 

Richard M. German, 
Henry W. Phillips 
— . Absalom Weller, 
William Horton, 
William Wilkin, 
Samuel Mills, 
Philip Miller, 
Moses Phillips. 
Jacob Mills, Jr., 

1822. Stephen Ingersoll, 

do do 

Absalom Weller, 

Jacob Mills, Jr., 
Moses Phillips, 
James Bingham, 
Samuel Mills, 
Stephen Ingersoll, 

1823. William Horton, 
Moses Phillips, 

do do 

do do 

Jacob Mills, Jr., 
Dr. G. N. Phillips, 
Samuel Mills, 
William Horton, 
Chas. P. Baldwin, 

1824. G.N. Phillips, 

do do 
Moses Phillips, 



Best Indian Corn, 

Best Flax, 

Second Best Butter, 

Best four Pigs, 

Second do 

Best Wooien Cloth, 

Second Best Blankets, 

Best Rug, 

Second best Rug, 

Best Carpet, 

Second best six dressed Calf Skins, 

Second best six Ewes, 

Best Linen, 

Second best Diaper, 

Greatest quantity of Potatoes, 

Second best piece of Flax, 

Second best Buck, 

Best piece of dressed Woolen Cloth, 

Best piece of Flannel, 

Best Hearth Rug, 

Second best Coverlid, 

Best Sole Leather, 

Second best blankets, 

Second best Sow, 

Second best Gelding, 

Best farm in the town, 

Second best three acres of Wheal. 

Best Potatoes, planted in rows and mea 

sured 275 bushels per acre, 
Second best Bull, 
Four best Spring Pigs, 
Best sewing Silk, 
Best Sole Leather, 
Best Coverlid, 
Second best Bull, 
Second best Buck, 
Third do 

Best four Shoats, 
Hearth Rug, 
Second best Carpet, 
Best Sole Leather. 
Down Tippet, 
Grain Cradle, 
Second best Bui), 
Best two Hogs, 
Second do 



$15 


00 


8 


00 


10 


00 


5 


00 


3 


00 


8 


00 


2 


00 


-> 


00 


1 


00 


10 


00 


4 


00 


3 


00 


6 


00 


4 


00 


10 


00 


5 


00 


5 


00 


12 


00 


<5 


00 


o 


00 


2 


oo 


10 


00 


o 


00 


3 


00 


5 


00 


10 


00 


7 


00 


8 


00 


5 


00 


5 


00 


5 


00 


10 


00 


5 


00 


5 


00 


2 


00 


1 


00 


4 


00 


1 


50 


3 


00 


5 


00 


2 


00 


o 


00 


5 


00 


4 


00 


2 


00 



Second best Farm, 


$10 00 


Best Indian Corn, 95 bushel?, 


10 00 


Second do 00 do 


5 00 


Best Cheese, 


4 00 


Best Plaid Flannel, 


6 00 


Second do 


3 00 


Second Best Worsted Stockings, 


t 00 


Second Best piece of Linen, 


3 00 


Best piece of Diaper, 


5 00 


Neat down Hat, 


1 00 


Best sewing Silk, 


5 00 


Second best Hearth Rug, 


1 00 



TOWN OF WALKILL. 359 

1824. William Hustin, 

do do 

Jacob Mills, 
Stephen Ingersoll, 
Wm. M. C. Shaw, 
William Hnrtin, 

do do 

Benj. Woodward, 

do do 

Sam'l M. C. Shaw, 
James Bingham, 
Stacy Beaks, 

James Wilson. — On Saturday morning, the 7th inst., James Wilson, of 
the town of Walkill, died of the Hydrophobia, in the seventeenth year of 
his age, after a lew days illness. The bite of the dog, which produced this 
awful distemper, he received four months hefore. Having made use of cer- 
tain medicines prescribed for the purpose, said to be an infallible remedy, 
and no symptoms of disease appearing at the usual period, the fears of his 
friends were in a great measure subsided. Tn the adorable and all wise 
providence of God, however, they were not long permitted to enjoy this tem- 
porary repose. Their fears were soon awakened by the symptoms which 
usually announce the approach of this dreadful distemper, and which, in a 
few days, to the inexpressible sorrow of his parents, deprived them of an 
amiable and promising son. At the same time, through the tender mercy 
of God, who allots all our afflictions, they have much to console them under 
the trying dispensation. He was mercifully preserved from those violent 
and outrageous symptoms, which commonly maikthe progress of this dis- 
temper; and in the death of.a beloved child, are not left to sorrow as those 
who have no hope. The exeicises of this youth were of so extraordinary 
a nature, and afford such a clear evidence of the power of divine grace, thai 
they ought not only to be known by the public, but be kept in everlasting- 
remembrance. Impressed himself with ihe importance of religion, he con- 
stantly employed his time, during the intervals of the spasms, both day and 
night, either in personal acts of devotion, or recommending it in the most 
earnest and affectionate manner to all around him. With manly freedom, 
he reproved and admonished the careless and hardened sinner ; with becom- 
ing modesty he put the aged in mind of their duty, telling them that, although 
their hairs were gray, not to despise the advice of a child; with the greatest 
earnestness, he exhorted the young to improve their time, and not to neglect 
their eternal interests. And what may appear still more remarkable and in- 
teresting—to his own parents, who had given him a religious education, he 
addressed the word of admonition, advising them to be more careful in the 
performance of their religious duties. His sister and brothers he faithfull) 
warned of the danger of misimproving their time, and abusing the means of 
grace; and urged them in the most earnest manner to the "observance of 
secret prayer, exhorting them to consider that " Now is the accepted time 
— now is the day of salvation." So deeply was he impressed with the im- 
portance of this duty, and so tenderly concerned for their welfare, that no- 
thing less would satisfy him, than that they should immediately retire for 
the performance of secret prayer, and insisted on their leaving his apartment 
for this purpose. Actuated by the benevolence which true religion inspires, 
his sympathies extended to the blacks in the family, for whose salvation he 
manifested a tender concern, and gave a particular charge respecting their 



360 TOWN OF WALKILL. 

religious education. To them also he tendered serious advice. His con- 
duct on the whole was particularly interesting and edifying. He discovered 
i placidness of disposition and a complaisance of manners, not to be expected 
in his disorder. Though sensible of his situation and approaching dissolu- 
tion, he was perfectly resigned to the divine will, and not a murmuring ex- 
pression escaped his lips. The propriety and clearness of his answers, when 
interrogated on divine things, and the seasonableness and force of his ob- 
servations, at once excited the astonishment and attracted the admiration of 
experienced and aged Christians. To this young boy the world had lost all 
its charms — he pronounced its treasures to be of infinitely less importance 
than an interest in Christ — he was willing to leave it and go with Christ, 
which is far better. After taking an affectionate leave of his friends, bid- 
ding them all farewell, he said to a friend standing by his bedside, " 1 am 
just going." On being asked Where ? his reply was — which were the last 
words he uttered — " I am going to Jesus Christ, mv Saviour; I hope to be 
with him in a few moments," and immediately after expired. Thus died 
this promising youth, whose conduct during the whole of this most terrible 
of diseases, affords another proof, to the many already given, of the truth 
of religion, and adds new triumph to the cause of Christianity. 

Recorder of the Times, of January 25, 1804. 

Levi Faulkener. — Died, on Thursday morning, the 20th inst. Mr. Levi 
b'aulkener, sod of Col. William Faulkener, of the town of Walkill. His 

death was occasioned by the fall of his horse on the Tuesday evening pre- 
vious, in crossing Stone)' Ford Bridge. The horse it appears had got a 
round stone fastened in one of his foreshoes, and being naturally shy of 
crossing bridges, he went with reluctance on it, and when on, ran off with 
precipitancy — the stone at each jump causing him to slip, till atter a remark - 
able one of seven feet, his foot entered a hole in the bridge and he fell, and 
with him the unfortunate youth — never to rise more ! It is remarkable that 
aithongh fond of conversation, he should, at this unhappy time, leave the 
company he was withand ride over the bridge alone. His companions rode 
out of the kill within three or four yards of the place where he was laying. 
with his head hanging over the bridge, without seeing him. His horse they 
found a little distance from the bridge, but without his rider ; they returned 
and found the unhappy victim stretched on his back without the least ap- 
pearance of life. They filled their hats with water and poured it on the 
.lack of his neck ; they perceived signs of life, and carried him about half a 
mile to the house of Mr. John Faulkener, where the surgeons attended, made 
in incision, found that his scull was fractured, and proceeded to the neces- 
sary operations — but without avail. He expired on Thursday morning at 
five o'clock. Thus fell a youth who had just completed his twenty-fifth 
vear. But two days before his death, his friends saw him in the bloom of 
health; but now he lays in the silent grave. From his qualifications, his 
parents might have formed the most pleasing anticipations — but, alas ! they 
are blasted in the bud, like tin baseless fabric of a vision: and their only 
consolation is, the hope that he has made a glorious exchange. 

Recorder of the Times, September 26, H04. 



TOWNS OF 



DEERPAR& 



AND 



MOUNT HOPE. 



As the latter was but recently erected out of the former,, 
we shall, as in the case of Montgomery and Crawford, treat 
them together as one town, as far as physical outline and 
early settlement are concerned. Previous to entering upon 
those articles of our paper, we claim permission to present 
our respects to an aged and worthy citizen of Deerpark, — 
Peter E. Gumaer, Esq. 

Strange as it may seem to many of our readers, this town, 
though situated in the very suburbs of the country, and at 
the time deep buried in the forests, and far from the naviga- 
ble waters of the Hudson and any known settlement nearer 
than Esopus, was among the earliest settled portions of the 
county. In this instance, as in others, we are indebted for 
these early and hardy emigrants to the persecuting spirit, 
which drenched France in blood, and drove her Protestant 
children to seek their personal safety beyond the influence 
of the reigning power of their native land. The ways of 
God on earth among men are insrutable at the time, though 
seen afterwards by their developed results. In the case re- 
ferred to He permitted persecution to reign in all the deadly 
ferocity of a bloody triumph, which scattered the children of 
France and planted them with their Christian principles, 
chastened by hardship and danger, along the streams and 
vallies of Orange county, that we this day might make hon- 
orable mention of their names, laud their integrity, and praise 
God for the early planting and wide dissemination of 
Christian principles among us. 

In our remarks on this town we acknowledge ourselves 
under deep obligations to Peter E. Gumaer, Esq., an old re- 
sident, and a descendent of one of its first settlers. This 



362 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

gentleman is a native of the town, and well acquainted with 
its early history and subsequent events, and has most kindly 
consented to favor us with his treasured historical knowledge, 
that we might spread it before the reader in this article of our 
paper. We were somewhat surprised at its extent and proba- 
ble accuracy, for we had no idea of finding it in that direc- 
tion, till we received a communication from him on the sub- 
ject of early settlement in a paper of great length and labor. 
In preparing this article we have done but little more than 
to extract from his communication. In some instances, 
where we thought ourselves warranted in so doing, we have 
varied his statements ; and in others, interpolated our own 
where there was an omission, to preserve the fullest and 
most accurate account of early and subsequent settlements. 
In the main, however, we have preserved the trunk and wide- 
spread branches of bis historic tree, and if we have underta- 
ken to prune and cultivate at any time, it was only to set a bud 
here and there, and lop off some of (he small and unimpor- 
tant branches principally of recent growth ; leaving the tree 
in all the beauty and grandeur of its early planting and vigo- 
rous growth. We question very much if there is one indi- 
vidual in any one town in this county, who can, off-hand, 
furnish us with a history of his town so accurate, extensive 
and connective as to time, as the paper from which this arti- 
cle is extracted. Mr. Gumaer must have treasured up the 
facts which compose it in an iron memory, or noted them 
down from time to time with a view of future publication. — 
This want of noting and publishing early and interesting 
facts and incidents, relating to the first and subsequent set- 
tlements of the various towns in the county, is severely felt 
by the writer, and will be lamented by every future one 
who has the hardihood to look into and gather up the annals 
of this portion of the state. If there be any thing of value or 
interest in this article, we ask that Mr. Gumaer may be con- 
sidered the author of it, as it is to him principally that we are 
indebted for it. This gentleman, like Herodotus, the oldest 
of profane historians, has " rescued from oblivion the memo- 
ry of former incidents, 1 ' and we now, as his amanuensis, 
spread them before the public and record them for its benefit 
and his honor. We hope that we have pursued the text be- 
fore us with such truth and accuracy, that he will not disown 
the true paternity of the article, when he comes to inspect 
our pages. 

In conclusion, we observe, if there be one gentleman in 
the county to whom we are indebted beyond all others, for 



AND MOUNT HOrK. 363 

their good will and contributions to assist the perfection 
of our paper, it is Peter E. Gumaer of Deerpark. To us 
the obligation is doubly interesting- for we did not expect to 
receive it from that quarter. 

PHYSICAL OUTLINE, ETC. 

These two towns taken together may be described as fol- 
lows : — the Shawangunk mountain as it runs from Southwest 
to Northeast constitutes the dividing line between them. — 
As it falls off to the West it meets the narrow flats along the 
Ne vers ink River in Deerpark, which'are partially alluvial and 
productive. The nature and condition of the land on the 
opposite side of the river, and up the Bashes Kill, are of the 
same quality, and compose the major part of good level land 
in Deerpark. The western and northern portions of the town, 
as they are situated upon the southern slope of the mountain, 
are elevated, rough and broken, and useful principally for 
grass and wood. It is bounded on the Southwest by the 
Delaware and Mongaup Rivers, while the Neversink runs 
through the whole length of it from North to South, uniting 
with the Delaware at Carpenter's Point. There are other 
small streams which wind their devious and rapid courses 
through the town, such as Basher's Kill, Shingle Kill, Gras- 
sy Swamp Brook and Fall Brook. The small streams, having 
their origin in the mountains at the North, determine their 
southern direction. The Hudson Canal runs through the 
whole length of the town from Port Jervis at the South on 
the Delaware to Cuddebackville, and on to the line of the 
town at the North. This Canal is really a godsend to this 
remote and insulated town, and her citizens unquestionably 
will use to their future advantage the convenience and mar- 
ket facilities afforded by it. 

We believe the whole of Deerpark is covered by the JVlin- 
isink Patent. The name is said to have been caused by the 
following circumstance : A man by the name of McDaniel or 
McDonald owned a small tract of land within the limits of the 
town, but where exactly we are not informed, and he en- 
closed it by a fence made of brush and small trees lopped 
down. The enclosure was called McDonald's " Deerpark, 1 " 
and was supposed to contain many deer. The tradition has 
great probability, for that animal was very numerous in that 
region at the settlement of the town. 

The Mount Hope portion of the old town is an exact dia- 
mond in shape, and among the least of her sisters. Its situ- 



364 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

ation and physical character are ruled by the same laws 
which govern Deerpark, as it lies on the eastern slope of the 
mountain, shelving pretty suddenly down to the Shawan- 
gunk creek. The location of the town and the bed of the 
creek are among the highest portions of the county. This 
fact is alluded to in the name, borrowed, as we suppose, from 
the older village of Mount Hope, and expresses a high lo- 
cation and a mind buoyant and hopeful. Mount is from the 
Latin Mons, a mountain ; and Hope from the Saxon Hopa, 
the expectation of future good. The Shawangunk Kill, here 
a small stream, runs through the whole length of the town 
from South to North, and is the only one worth mentioning. 
This town may be considered hard to till, and not very pro- 
ductive in grains under any state of husbandry. The spots 
which have the benefit of mountain wash may be excepted ; 
still the culture of stock and its produce in various ways 
must, in the nature of things in this climate, be the most 
advantageous husbandry. A shepherd will thrive better than 
a horticulturalist. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT. 

We may say perhaps, with truth, that the earliest settle- 
ments within the present limits of this county, w r ere made at 
a place called Peenpack in this town, and on the southerly 
portion of that long and narrow valley of partially alluvial 
land, known as Mamakating Hollow. 

Some of the original settlers in this remote and secluded 
locality came from the earliest settlement of the Dutch and 
Huguenots on the Hudson, at Kingston and its vicinity; 
from whence, following the Hat lands on the banks of the 
streams to the Southward, wandered along the valley just 
mentioned to the Delaware River, where they were probably 
met by other early adventurers, who, coming from New 
Jersey, had followed up that river and made settlements 
on both sides of it. 

These tenants of the valley took possession and occupied 
such portions of the country as suited their tastes, regardless 
of the real ownership, and without knowing or enquiring 
whether they were under the authority of the Dutch govern- 
ment of New Netherlands, or the Quaker rule of William 
Penn. 

In the year 1697 a patent was granted to Arent Schuyler 
for " A certain tract of land in the Minisink country, 
in the province of New York, called by the native Indians 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 365 

Warensaghskemick, otherwise called Maghawaemus ; also 
a certain parcel of meadow or vly, called by the Indians 
Warensaghskemick, situate, lying and being upon a cer- 
tain run, called by the Indians, and known by the name 
of Minisink, before a certain island, called Menayack, 
which is adjacent to, or near unto, a certain tract of land 
called by the natives Maghakaneck, containing the quantity 
of one thousand acres and no more." 

In the same year another patent was granted to Jacob Co- 
debeck, Thomas Swartwout, Anthony Swartwout, Bernardus 
Swartwout, Jan Tys, Peter Germar and David Jamison, and 
included " a certain quantity of land at a place called Wagh- 
aghkemick, being the quantity of one thousand two hundred 
acres ; beginning at the western bounds of the lands called 
Nepeneck, to a small run of water called by the Indian name 
Assawaghkemeck, and so along said run of water and the 
lands of Mansjoor the Indian." 

The lands included in the two patents are situated in the 
valley of the Peenpack. It will be perceived that they 
are described in such a loose and imperfect manner as to 
make it impossible to fix any particular location for either of 
them, and the patentees seem to have considered them as 
"floating" patents, under which they were authorised to 
take possession of any unappropriated lands in any part of 
the valley. Indeed, in after years, when it was necessary to 
make a partition of the Minisink patent — within the general 
bounds of which these two patents were included, but in 
which they were expressly excepted — the commisioners ap- 
pointed to make the partition found great difficulty in making 
a location of them. With respect to the patent to Codeback 
and others, they remark that, " It contains no particular 
boundaries, but appears rather to be a description of a certain 
tract of country in which the 1200 acres were to be taken up 
at the election of the parties, which election having been 
made many years ago, and being evidenced by the actual 
possession of the parties, consists of five distinct small tracts." 
These five tracts lie along the Neversink River, and the 
Bashes Kill from near the Delaware River, to within the 
bounds of the county of Sullivan, about the distance of eleven 
miles. Portions of this patent still remain in the possession 
of the descendents of some of the original patentees, as we 
shall see more particularly hereafter. 

Some of these names have been slightly changed : Germar 
is now spelt Gumaer, and Codebeck, Cuddeback, Cudde- 



306 TOWNS OF DEERPAUK 

backville is situated on one of the five tracts composing the 
patent. 

Of the seven patentees above named, Codebeck and Ger- 
mar were Frenchmen, and according to a certificate then in 
the possession of Gcrmar in the French language, they were 
in that country in the year 1685, in April, being about twenty 
vears old. In that year the famous Edict of Nantes was re- 
voked, and these individuals fled for safety, and for conscience 
sake left forever the vine clad hills of their native land. 

On leaving they proceeded to England or Holland, where 
they remained a short time, and were to be supplied with 
funds within a certain period by their friends at home, in the 
receipt of which they were disappointed. They then em- 
barked for America, and landed somewhere in the state of 
Maryland. By this time their money was spent, and they 
were compelled to support themselves by manual labor — a 
condition of things to which they had not been accustomed, 
and they found it to be very trying and hard to their personal 
feelings'and inclinations ; yet with that sprightliness of char- 
acter and spirit of accommodation which cheerfully bends to 
every condition of things, for which the French are more re- 
markable than any other nation, these individuals yielded 
with their usual grace to the necessity of the case, and though 
thoughtful about the land of their birth, sang a song of re- 
membrance over their daily toil. Their stay in Maryland 
was short, and they then emigrated to the state of New York, 
and either in the city, or in one of the counties on the East 
side of the Hudson, both entered into the interesting state of 
wedlock with individuals of a Dutch family by the name of 
Jwartwout. These marriages doubtless led to the after inti- 
macy and association of these persons, and was the reason of 
their co-settlement in the county. 

Tys and Jamison were also Dutchmen. 

The Swartwouts were large men, of great bodily strength 
and courage, and well calculated to be pioneers in the settle- 
ment of a new country, densely covered with woods, and 
infested by the natives- and ferocious wild animals. 

These seven men came to this town in 1690, but did not 
procure the patent of 1200 acres previously mentioned till 
the 14th of October, 1697. Tys and Jamison must have died 
soon after the location of the patent or emigrated elsewhere, 
for in the future history of this settlement we neither find 
them mentioned, nor auy others of that name till long after 
the period we are speaking of. Within a few years after the 
settlement the patent fell into the hands of Peter Germ:.:, 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 367 

Jacob Codeback, one of the Swartwouts, and an early settler 
by the name of Harmanus Van Inweg en, which lias very 
generally remained in the ownership oftneir descendents till 
the present time. 

At the time these men came and located the patent, this 
part of the country was a favorite district of the Indians, as 
the streams were numerous in the vicinity, abounding in fish 
of various kinds, and wild game numerous in the wide forests 
around them. Doubtless this, and the whole of what was 
called the Minisink country, extending for forty miles on 
both sides of the Delaware River, was thickly settled by the 
natives, and frequently visited by other friendly and neigh- 
boring tribes. It had all the conveniences for Indian resi- 
dence, as far as rivers, brooks, fish, wild game and tillable 
lands were essential for such a purpose. 

The land covered by the patent laid along the Neversink 
River and Bashes Kill, at and below their junction, and was 
a body of very fertile river land; and the Indians, Delawares, 
who then tenanted it, permitted the pale-faced new comers to 
settle and occupy in peace, without the least molestation for 
many succeeding years. From this early friendship between 
the Indians and settlers, it is probable the former received 
some compensation for their land from the latter ; for they 
must at the time have claimed it and exercised jurisdiction 
over the whole of that part, of the county. This they did 
certainly as late as 1703, the date of the Wawayanda patent, 
which grant was from twelve Indian chiefs, who claimed title 
thereto. It is a little singular, that from this time till the In- 
dians left, there was no ill-will, deep or revengeful, nor any 
hostilities of a general character between the parties in all the 
country around. Both parties, as we suppose, found it their 
interest to act kindly and honestly towards each other. In- 
deed, we never heard any other chatacter of the parties, and 
when we can we wish to do the Indians of this county full 
and ample justice for their good conduct while here. 

The grass which grew upon these river flats was coarse, 
and from four to six feet high, and called in Dutch Reet 
grass. The flats are now much altered from what they were, 
being cut up by channels by the action of the river, and 
grown over with woods. 

At the settlement, the conduct of the parties was judicious 
and well calculated to ensure their then present and future 
safety in case of an attack from the Indians. They built their 
cabins near each other on and around a small rise of ground 
or knoll, some fifty or sixty rods long, ten wide, and about 



370 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

For the first half century the coarse grains were not cash ar- 
ticles, being used principally to feed cattle and fatten the 
hogs. Corn prepared in various ways was used with milk 
for the morning and evening meal, before tea and coffee 
came into general use, which was little before 1800 in this 
locality. Tea was first introduced here about 1760 or 1770 
— probably soon after the French war — for when the Revo- 
lution cut off the supply the inhabitants thought it. very hard 
to be deprived of its use. Wheat was the great crop, and 
the first attempt to grind it was made by Jacob Codebeck 
with a very small mill. One of the stones with which the 
experiment was made — about two feet in diameter and three 
inches thick — is still to be seen in the cellar of Peter E. Gu- 
maer of this town, near where the ancient mill stood. It was 
erected on a spring brook near his house, but how it answered 
the purpose is not now known. Though uninformed of the 
date of this erection, it must have been the first of the kind 
in this county. , There were two other grist mills erected in 
this vicinity, on -what was called u Old Dam Brook;" one 
at, and the other below, the outlet of a swam]) and bog 
meadow — so long since, that no one of the last generation 
saw their remains, except the ground and stones which com- 
posed a part of the dam of one of them. |0ne of them was 
at the Northwest side of the road, three-fourths of a mile 
Northeast of Port Jarvis ; the other lower clown o:) the brook. 
Jacob R. De Witt built a mill about the year 1770 on the 
Neversink River, near Cuddebackville, which continued tu 
grind till sold to the Canal Company. 

There was also an old mill erected by Solomon Davis — 
the site is now occupied by one owned by Mr. Thomas Van 
Etten a ; and another by Simon Westfall — the site of which is 
now occupied by Mr. Rennet's mill. There was still another 
old mill — the site of which is now occupied by Samuel B. 
Farnum's mill, near Butler's Falls. The largest grist mill 
in this town is at Port Jarvis. 

Judsfincr from the sawed materials in old buildings, saw 
mills must have been in very early use in this neighborhood. 
One is known to have been erected about 1760 or 1770. 

The first grist mills performed the operation of grinding 
only. The bolting was performed by hand silting, before the 
flour was converted into bread. This process took out the 
coarse bran, and every family kept a sieve for the purpose. — 
This flour made the real healthy Graham brown bread, and 
infinitely to be preferred to that made of the finest Rochester 
Hour of our day, if good taste and confirmed health are worth 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 371 

any thing. The men and women of that day were generally 
healthier and lived longer than those of this generation, but 
whether owing to the brown bread or other causes, we are 
not philosopher enough to say, though we think the bread 
was an efficient element. 

At that early day the people along the valley of the Never- 
sink and Delaware, for the distance of forty or fifty* miles, 
having a desire to hear the gospel preached among them, 
concluded that by forming four congiegations within that 
distance, they could support one preacher ; but as there was 
no one qualified in the settlement to officiate in that station, 
and the people, generally being from Holland, of the Dutch 
Reformed Church, they agreed with a young man — John 
Casparus Fryenmuth — who had previously studied for the 
ministry, to furnish him with money to go to Holland, finish 
his studies and procure his ordination, and he, in return, to 
become their minister. He went, finished his studies, was 
ordained, and became the minister of the four congregations 
in 1742. Each was to have the one-fourth of his services. 
The ministrations of (his gentleman were very agreeable to 
the people, and most gratefully remembered along the line 
of tradition. They continued till about 1755, when the 
French and Indian war commenced ; when, from the ex- 
posed condition of this frontier to Indian attack, it was judged 
imprudent to continue his services : he discontinued, and re- 
tired to another part of the country. 

While these times show a lamentable poverty of educated 
men, as well in other as in this department of learning, we 
cannot but applaud the pious and Christian sacrifices made 
by these early settlers to enjoy the now too unprised privilege 
of a gospel ministry. 

For some years before 1700, and till as late as 1765 or "70, 
the owners of this 1200 acre patent, and of the Minisink pa- 
tent, were doomed to be troubled and afflicted with a tedious 
and oftentimes ferocious conflict with their neighbors, the in- 
habitants of New Jersey, growing out of the uncertain loca- 
tion of the line between New York and New Jersey : — one 
side claiming it to be farther South, to a certain pointonthe 
Delaware River ; and the other, farther North, to a certain 
point on the same river. It. so happened that the. line claimed 
by New Jersey ran through the J200 acre patent in this 
county, and certain evil disposed persons in that State pro- 
cured a Jersey Colony title for a tract of land extending up 
North to this claimed line, and covered a large portion of the 
1200 acres. As the line remained unsettled, no action at 



370 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

For the first half century the coarse grains were not cash ar- 
ticles, being used principally to feed cattle and fatten the 
hogs. Corn prepared in various ways was used with milk 
for the morning- and evening meal, before tea and coffee 
came into general use, which was little before 1800 in this 
locality. Tea was first introduced here about 1760 or 1770 
— probably soon after the French war — for when the Revo- 
lution cut off the supply the inhabitants thought it. very hard 
to be deprived of its use. Wheat was the great crop, and 
the first attempt to grind it was made by Jacob Codebeck 
with a very small mill. One of the stones with which the 
experiment was made — about two feet in diameter and three 
inches thick — is still to be seen in the cellar of Peter E. Gu- 
maer of this town, near where the ancient mill stood. It was 
erected on a spring brook near his house, but how it answered 
the purpose is not now known. Though uninformed of the 
date of this erection, it must have been the first, of the kind 
in this county. t There were two other grist mills erected in 
this vicinity, on what was called " Old Dam Brook ;" one 
at, and the other below, the outlet of a swamp and bog- 
meadow — so long since, that no one of (he last generation 
saw their remains, except the ground and stones which com- 
posed a part of the dam of one of them. §Dne of them was 
at the Northwest side of the road, three-fourths of a mile 
Northeast of Port Jarvis ; the other lower down on the brook. 
Jacob R. De Witt built a mill about the year 1770 on the 
Neversink River, near Cuddebackville, which continued tu 
grind till sold to the Canal Company. 

There was also an old mill erected by Solomon Davis — 
the site is now occupied by one owned by Mr. Thomas Van 
Etten a ; and another by Simon Westfall — the site of which is 
now occupied by Mr. Bonnet's mill. There was still anotlu :r 
old mill — the site of which is now occupied by Samuel B. 
Farnum's mill, near Butler's Falls. The largest grist mill 
■in this town is at Port Jarvis. 

Judging from the sawed materials in old buildings, saw 
mills must have been in very early use in tin's neighborhood. 
One is known to have been erected about 1760 or ]770. 

The first grist mills performed the operation of grinding 
only. The bolting was performed by hand sifting, before the 
flour was converted into bread. This process took out the 
coarse bran, and every family kept a sieve for the purpose. — 
This flour made the real healthy Graham brown bread, and 
infinitely to be preferred to that made of the finest Rochester 
flour of our day, if good taste and confirmed health are worth 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 371 

any thing. The men and women of that day were generally 
healthier and lived longer than those of this generation, but 
whether owing to the brown bread or other causes, we are 
not philosopher enough to say, though we think the bread 
was an efficient element. 

At that early clay the people along the valley of the Never- 
sink and Delaware, for the distance of forty or fifty* miles, 
having a desire to hear the gospel preached among them, 
concluded that by forming four congregations within that 
distance, they could support one preacher ; but as there was 
no one qualified in the settlement to officiate in that station, 
and the people, generally being from Holland, of the Dutch 
Reformed Church, they agreed with a young man — John 
Casparus Fryenmuth — who had previously studied for the 
ministry, to furnish him with money to go to Holland, finish 
his studies and procure his ordination, and he, in return, to 
become their minister. He went, finished his studies, was 
ordained, and became the minister of the four congregations 
in 1742. Each was to have the one-fourth of his services. 
The ministrations of this gentleman were very agreeable to 
the people, and most gratefully remembered along the line 
of tradition. They continued till about 1755, when the 
French and Indian war commenced ; when, from the ex- 
posed condition of this frontier to Indian attack, it was judged 
imprudent to continue his services : he discontinued, and re- 
tired to another part of the country. 

While these times show a lamentable poverty of educated 
men, as well in other as in this department of learning, we 
cannot but applaud the pious and Christian sacrifices made . 
by these early settlers to enjoy the now too unprised privilege 
of a gospel ministry. 

For some years before 1700, and till as late as 1765 or '70, 
the owners of this 1200 acre patent, and of the Minisink pa- 
tent, Avere doomed to be troubled and afflicted with a tedious 
and oftentimes ferocious conflict with their neighbors, the in- 
habitants of New Jersey, growing out of the uncertain loca- 
tion of the line between New York and New Jersey : — one 
side claiming it to be farther South, to a certain point on the 
Delaware River ; and the other, farther North, to a certain 
point on the same river. It so happened that the line claimed 
by New Jersey ran through the J 200 acre patent in this 
county, and certain evil disposed persons in that State pro- 
cured a Jersey Colony title fur a tract of land extending up 
North to this claimed line, and covered a large portion of the 
1200 acres. As the line remained unsettled, no action at 



372 TOWNS OF DEERRARK 

law could be maintained by either party, and consequently 
many hard and personal struggles took place, to maintain or 
get possession of the lands in question ; and a lawless vio- 
lence was permitted to reign in triumph over the disputed 
territory for more than three-fourths of a century. 

As some of the proceedings and incidents were not only of 
a serious and dangerous character, but ludicrous in the ex- 
treme, we will extract a few from the notes of our friend Mr. 
Gumaer, premising them with a statement of the case as we 
have collected it from the records of the Colonial Assembly 
of New York, by which the reader will be in possession of an 
accurate notion in relation to this ancient and truly pestilent 
border warfare. 



EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

"November 1, 1700. That whereas some differences do arise between 
the county of Orange, within this province, and the province of East New 
Jersey, 

" They, therefore, humbly pray your Excellency, (Richard, Earl of Bella- 
mont, Governor,) to lake into consideration the settling of the bounds be- 
tween this province and said province of East New Jersey." 

By order of the House of Representatives, Abraham Gouvemeur, Speaker. 

Ordered, that Mr. Morgan and Captain Hunt do carry up to his Excellency 
and Council the act for confirming a certain agreement made by Thomas 
Swartwout and company of the one part, and Garret Aertson and company 
of the other part, for their assent, and the address of this House to settle the 
hounds between this province and the province of East New jersey. 

We hear nothing more of settling this line in the records 
of the Assembly, till October 20, J74S, at which time the 
colony of New Jersey had passed an act to run and ascertain 
the line, and had laid it before, the Assembly of New York 
for their objections, if any. Before the House had acted 
upon it, the inhabitants of Orange, all along the line got up 
a petition against the act, which they presented to the House 
and desired to be heard by counsel. This was granted, and 
on the 28th of October, 1748, the petitioners were ..heard by 
their counsel against the New Jersey act. On the 29th, the 
House considered the objections against the act, and 

" Resolved that they were strong and well grounded ; that the petitioners 
take measures, if they think lit, to oppose it; and that the Speaker transmit 
their objections to Mr. Charles, agent for the colony in Great Britain, v, ith 
directions to oppose said act, when it shall be transmitted for his Majesty 'a 
royal assent.'' 

Mr. Charles wrote here to know whether the expense of 

opposing the law was to be borne by the individuals or the 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 373 

public; whereupon, the House " Resolved, that they be 
paid by the public." 

" April 24, 1754. The Hon. James De Lancey, Esq., Lieut. Governor, 
- communicated as follows : 

Gentlemen — The division line between this Government and the province 
of New Jersey not being settled, has given rise to great tumults and disor- 
ders among the people of Orange county and the adjacent inhabitants of 
New Jersey, and may produce worse evils, unless prevented by a timely care. 
Nothing can answer this purpose so effectually, I think, as the fixing a tem- 
porary line of peace between us, until his Majesty's pleasure shall be known 
in ihe matter. Governor Belcher assures me of his sincere desire that ami- 
cable and conciliatory measures may be fallen upon by the governments to 
make the borders easy; and I have proposed to him the running such line 
conformable to the opinion of his Majesty's counsel, signified in their report 
to me, which I shall order to be laid before you, and if it receives your ap- 
probation, 1 shall forthwith appoint commissioners for running such Jine of 
peace, and apply to that government to do the like on their part." 

" October 29, 1754. Mr. Nicoll, from the committee to whom was re- 
ferred the memorial of sundry of the present owners and proprietors of the 
patents of Minisink and Wawayanda, and the other patents within this pro- 
vince bounded on the Jersey line, in behalf of themselves and the other part 
owners and proprietors of said patents, complaining of the hardships of the 
people of this province, living near the said Jersey line labor under from 
the encroachments of the people of that province, reported 

That it appeared to them, in the year 1686, two stations were fixed as 
the terminating points of the line of division (to be run through the same — 
as far as they can discover, never was run) between the provinces of New 
York and New Jersey, viz : The one on the Northwardmost branch of the 
Delaware River in 41 degress 40 minutes North latitude; and the other on 
Hudson's River 41 degrees North latitude,which is due West from the lower 
Yonker's Mills. 

That the stations so fixed were settled by the surveyors of both provinces, 
by virtue of the authority of their respective governments, and with the 
consent and approbation of the proprietors of East New Jersey. 

That, as to the station on Hudson's River, it appears so certainly desig- 
nated by names of places well known, so as may easily be found. As to 
that on Delaware River, notwithstanding it appears to have been fixed in 41 
degress 40 minutes North latitude on the Northwardmost branch of the 
Delaware River, yet which is the most Northwardly branch of that river, or 
^vhat part thereof is in latitude 41 : 40, they cannot certainly discover. — 
However, they find that Minisink, a place well known, and the lands to the 
Northward thereof, have been held under this province, by patents granted 
by the Governors thereof, for near seventy years, and which are bounded 
South by New Jersey. 

That the governments and inhabitants of both provinces esteemed the 
Southward bounds of those lands both at the time of their being granted, 
and for many years after to be the bounds between them. 

That the government and inferior civil and military officers of this pro- 
vince, in the extension of their jurisdiction and command, and the inhabi- 
tants of this province in the extension of their possessions, have ever since 
the year 1686, advanced Southward as far as and limited themselves as near 
as possible by the bounds aforesaid. 
That the people of New Jersey for many years after the fixation of said 



374 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

stations, in the settlement of their lands, did not extend Northward beyond 
said bounds; nor did the government of New Jersey or its inferior officers, 
even till of late years, pretend to exercise jurisdiction to the Northward of 
said bounds. 

That the people of New Jersey have from time to time for a considerable 
time past, collected themselves in large bodies, and with violence have ar- 
rested divers of his majesty's subjects, holding lands under this province to 
the Northward of said bounds, and taken possession of their lands, and do 
now forcibly hold the same. 

That the government of New Jersey hath, within a few years past, erected 
anew county, called Sussex, a great part of which they have extended many 
miles to the Northward of the bounds aforesaid. 

That the Justices of the Peace and other officers have been, and are from 
time to time, appointed in the said county, and do, from time to time, exer- 
cise authority and jurisdiction over the persons and possessions of a great 
number of his Majesty's subjects, holding their lands under, and paying a 
submission to the government of this colony. 

That, in consequence of the exercise of such authority and jurisdiction, 
his Majesty's Justices of the Peace and other subordinate officers and min- 
isters, in and for Orange county, have been frequently beaten, insulted, 
prevented in the execution of their respective offices, taken prisoners, and 
carried into parts of New Jersey, remote from their habitations and the op- 
portunity of being relieved, and have been thrown into jail and held to ex- 
cessive bail, and prosecuted by indictments, and that others of his Majesty's 
subjects belonging to Orange county have also met with similar treatment. 
That the people of Jersey have also, from time to time, and as often as 
they are able, possessed themselves of the vacant lands in Orange county. 
That they frequently beset the houses of his Majesty's subjects in Orange 
county by night, and attempt to seize and take prisoners such of his Ma- 
jesty's subjects, and are encouraged to do this by the offer of rewards made 
to them, and are also actually kept in pay for that purpose, by the proprie- 
tors of East New Jersey. 

That the commissioners of highways for the said new county have laid 
out an highway through Minisink aforesaid, which now, by the above men- 
tioned conduct of the people of New Jersey, is almost, if not entirely, re- 
duced to a subjection to the government of New Jersey. 

That the public officers of New Jersey assess and raise taxes upon the 
people dwelling to the Northward of said bounds, by which means many 
have been prevented from paying their proportion of the taxes of Orange 
county for more than a year past. Some of them have been obliged to de- 
sert their possessions, and retire into the more Northwardly parts of Orange 
county, while a few, more resolute than the rest ; are reduced to the necessi- 
ty of converting their dwellings into places of defence, and go armed for 
fear of some sudden attack. 

That, though the committee could produce many instances of this kind, 
1hey confine themselves 1o one, which happened very lately. Thomas De 
Key, Colonel of the militia and a Justice ol the Peace for Orange county, 
whose plantations are claimed by New Jersey, to be within ihe aforesaid 
new county, though he, and those under whom he claims have held them, 
and been settled upon them under New York nigh fifty years, finding him- 
self extremely vexed, disturbed and disquieted by the people of New Jersey, 
wont to .lanies Alexander, Esq , one of his Majesty's council for this pro- 
vince, and also for New Jersey province, and who is one of the proprietors 
of. the Eastern division of New Jersey, of great interest there, and esteemed 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 375 

one of the most active persons among them, to endeavor to come to some 
agreement with him, in order that he might remain quiet until the line be 
finally settled. But the said Alexander refused to consent to any thing of 
that kind, unless the said De Key would agree to hold his lands under New 
Jersey, become a Jerseyman, and fight, as he expressed it for New Jersey 
against New York people; and told him at the same time if he would do so 
he should neither want money or commissions; and if he would not do so, 
he should be dispossessed of his plantations. This Col. De Key refusing to 
comply with, some short time after, a number of armed men from New Jer- 
sey came to the house of said Col. De Key, who, observing them approach 
• in such a manner, shut himself up in his house;. on which they drew up 
before his door, and some of them cocked their guns, and presented them 
towards the window where Col. De Key stood, swearing they would shoot 
him through the heart — that they would starve him out, and burn the house 
over his head — and if man, woman or child attempted to escape they would 
shoot them down — that they had strength enough to take all Goshen and 
would do it in time. However, they then withdrew without furlher vio- 
lence, and upon their departure one of them said to Col. De Key, "Take care 
of yourself, for we will have you yet." 

This report was considered on the 8th of November, 1754, 
and a resolution passed to lay the same before his honor, Lt. 
Governor De Lancey, with request that he would exercise 
jurisdiction over the disputed territory till his Majesty should 
be pleased to declare his pleasure with respect to the further 
jurisdiction of this province. Col.Beekman and Capt. Winne, 
the committee, reported that they had laid the report before 
the Lieutenant Governor, who Avas pleased to say that " He 
would consider thereof and lay the same before his Majesty's 
council." 

Thus the controversy remained unadjusted till February 
18, 1757, when a new memorial was presented to the House 
by the proprietors of the Minisink and Wawayanda patents, 
dated February 10, 1756, which was ordered to be printed. 
This memorial was very long, and contains a legal argument 
upon the point in dispute between the parties, embracing all 
the facts and law of the case, and we cannot consent to place 
it before the reader, though we have a copy of it, made by 
Philip Millspaugh, Esq., of the city of New York, for our use. 

Nothing conclusive was done upon the consideration of this 
memorial. In December, 1762, a memorial of thepropri- 
etors of the patents was presented setting forth 

" That the unsettled state of the boundary line has been, for many years 
past, the subject of fruitful and dangerous riots and breaches of the peace, 
attended in sundry instances, not only with violent batteries, but the im- 
prisonment of some of his Majesty's subjects.arising as well from the strug- 
gles of the two contending jurisdictions, as from disputes respecting the 
property, etc. 

; ' That, among other instances of public losses arising from these 



376 TOWNS OK DEEIUWRK 

encroachments, the petitioner? beg leave to mention the precinct of Minisihk 
in Orange county, which has been wholly wrested from the colony, and is 
now subject to the government of New Jersey, etc., and pray for a bill for 
settling the controversy by a commission to be appointed for the purpose, 
and for provision to pay the expense.*' 

This is the last notice we find of this old and disturbing" 
question on the journal of the Assembly down to 1765. It 
was finally settled, probably about the year 1767, and ad- 
justed as all great questions of claim, boundary and possession 
of the present day have been, by dividing the disputed ter- 
ritory equally or nearly so between them. 

Question Stated. — This question originated in the un- 
certain boundaries of New Jersey, and in the meaning of 
certain words in the grant, and will be best explained by 
stating the boundaries. 

In March 12, 1663, his Majesty, Charles II., by letters 
patent, granted to his brother James, Duke of York, after- 
wards King James II., "All that part of the main land, etc., 
together with Hudson's River, and all the lands from the 
West side of the Connecticut River to the East side of Dela- 
ware Bay." 

In June 23, 24, 1664, the Duke of York, by lease and re- 
lease, granted unto John, Lord Berkley and Sir George Car- 
taret all that tract now called New Jersey, and did, in part, 
describe it as follows : "And extending Southward to the 
main ocean as far as Cape May at the mouth of the Dela- 
ware, and to the Northward as far as the Northward most 
branch of the said bay or river, which is in latitude 41 de- 
grees 40 minutes, and crosseth over thence in a straight line 
to the latitude 41 degrees, on Hudson's River." 

These individuals divided the patent of New Jersey : — 
Carteret had the East half, and Berkley the West, and this 
gave origin to the name of East and West New Jersey. 

The Dutch re-conquered the country, and took possession 
of this territory, which was soon restored to England, and 
Sir George Cartaret on the 28th and 29th of July, 1674, took 
the precaution to take a second grant for East New Jersey in 
severalty, by lease and release, the boundaries of which were 
as follows : 

<; All that tract of land adjacent to New England, and lying and being to 
the Westward of Long Island and Manhattan's Island, bounded on the East 
part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's River ; and extends Southward 
as far as a certain creek Karnegat, being about the middle between Sandy 
Point and Cape May ; and bounded on the West, in a straight line from said 
creek called Barnegat to a certain creek in Delaware River, next adjoining to 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 377 

and below a certain creek in Delaware River, called Rankokus Kill : and 
j'rom thence up the said Delaware River to the Noithwardmost branch 
thereof, which is in latitude 41 degrees 40 minutes, and on the North cros- 
seth thence in a straight line to Hudson's River in latitude 41 degrees."' 

The whole difficulty grew out of determining what and 
where " the Noithwardmost branch of the Delaware River " 
was. Both parties starting at the same point on Hudson's 
River in latitude 40 degrees, New York contended for a line 
which would strike the Delaware at the Southern extremity 
of Big Minisink Island ; while the line insisted upon by New 
Jersey would strike the Delaware just South of Cochecton, 
making a triangular gore of land between them, growing- 
wider as it ran to the West, where it was several miles wide. 
In the final settlement this gore was about equally divided 
between the parties, after being a bone of contention for 
nearly seventy-five years. We are not certain, for the re- 
cords referred to contain no proof, when this line was finally 
settled, yet we think it. was about the year 1767. 

We return to the notes of Mr. Gumaer, to say that some 
of the patentees having sold out to others of their number 
and removed, the party in possession was weakened; in 
consequence of which, and to regain their strength, they 
gave some of their lands to Harmanus Van Inwegen, a bold 
and strong man, and who had married a daughter of one of 
the Swartwouts. The following incident may serve to prove 
his intrepidity : 

One day, while absent from home, some Indians came, 
and commenced abusing his family : he was sent for, and 
when they saw him coming, they ran to their guns, cocked, 
and took aim at him. Nothing daunted, he rushed in among 
them and handled the red rascals so roughly that they were 
glad to flee and make their escape. At another time, when 
alone in his field, raking up his grain on the disputed terri- 
tory, a constable of the opposite party, armed will) a sword, 
and accompanied by a few men to take him and possess 
themselves of his grain, came advancing towards him, when 
he bid them stand off; but the constable advancing, made a 
a few passes at him with a sword, and wounded him, when 
Van Inwegen broke his rake in pieces over his head, and 
ended the illegal attempt. Others of a like nature were 
made from time to time, of which we relate the following : 

Major Swartwout resided on the lands in dispute, and 
some two miles from the settlement on the undisputed part. 
Some of the Jersey claimants were watching for an opportu- 
nity to enter his house and get possession, before he could 



378 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

procure help from his neighbors. He was aware of it, and 
to counteract the attempt and repel the invaders, kept a num- 
ber of guns ready loaded in his house, with some additional 
men to work his farm, and lend assistance in a case of 
emergency. He was a bold, resolute man, and feared by 
those who wished to dispossess him. He was Major of all, 
or nearly all, of the militia of the then county of Orange, 
about the years 1730 or 1740. It is said he was portly, and 
had a fine military bearing when mounted on his powerful 
horse, and decked out in military equipments, and made a 
very striking appearance on parades. At that day the mili- 
tary meetings were usually held at Goshen or in that vicinity. 

Notwithstanding the Major's precautions to defend his pos- 
sessions, it appears that, at a certain time about the year 
1730, his family were expelled and his goods removed out 
of the house, and possession taken by the intruders. This 
was in his absence, and while his wife was confined to her 
bed by the birth of a child, and it caused her death. 

In order to reinstate the Major, assistance was procured 
from Goshen, which, with the inhabitants of this neighbor- 
hood, concluded to go secretly and lay in ambush on a hill, 
in a piece of woods near the Major's house — that Peter Gu- 
maer should go to the house, and discover the situation of 
the enemy, and when the opportunity became favorable for 
them to enter the house, then go into the orchard and throw 
up an apple as a signal for the party to come on. After the 
party had ambushed themselves and the opportunity became 
favorable, Gumaer left the house, went into the orchard, and 
threw up an apple, whereupon the party rushed into the 
house, expelled the inmates and reinstated the Major. 

The occupants, now fearing that they might be taken by 
surprise by a force they could not resist, managed to have a 
spy among the Jersey claimants, at some twenty miles dis- 
tance, through whom from time to time they received infor- 
mation of all the projects of the claimants. Through that 
course they were informed that the Jerseymen had collected 
a strong party, with which on a certain day they intended to 
dispossess the occupants generally on the disputed lands. — 
When the day came the occupants, fathers and sons, all as- 
sembled at the house of Harmanus Van Inwegen, armed with 
guns and fully equipped. When the Jersey company came 
in view, the occupants went out into the road, and formed 
themselves in line for battle. Jacob Codebeck observed to 
Van Inwecen, that as they were old men, and their lives not 
so valuable as those of the young, they would take position 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 379 

in front of the line — which Van Inwegen instantly agreed to, 
and they took their stations accordingly. After being formed 
in double file, the two old men in front, Major Swartwout 
placed himself at the head of the column to lead and give 
the word of command. When the Jersey company came 
within gun shot and halted, Gerardus Swartwout, a son of 
the Major, who did not know whether the affair was all fun 
or sober earnest, or whether he was to fire so as to kill them 
or maim their legs only, asked his father how he should 
shoot, who replied " Kill them !' : Van Inwegen immedi- 
ately requested the Major to give the word to commence the 
battle, which he did. The Jcrseymen unexpectedly finding 
these men collected and armed for mortal combat, and hear- 
ing the inquiry of the young man, the answer and the word 
of command, became suddenly daunted in their military 
courage, and hastily retreated to the nearest woods. The 
others, taking a circuitous route, headed them off, and while 
they were passing from a ravine back of a hill, about two 
miles off, the occupants fired at them but with little effect. 
One man shot at the constable's leg, missed him and killed 
his horse. This occurred when Gerardus Swartwout was a 
young man, and about in 1740. 

The history of many of those border frays and contentions, 
to hold and gain possession of the disputed lands, is now 
buried in oblivion, not having come down to us on the stream 
of tradition. 

The last struggle between the parties was to capture and 
imprison the Major and Johannes Westbiook, both of whom 
lived on the battle ground. Any open effort to capture the 
Major was known to be environed with great difficulty : and 
the Jersey men undertook to effect it on the Sabbath, at the 
door of the church. This was between the years 1764-67, 
and when the Rev. Thomas Romeyn was pastor — he being- 
settled at Flatbush, Long Island till 1764. To accomplish 
it, they had collected a strong part)^ who came armed with 
clubs on the day appointed, and when the minister preached 
in the church of Mahaghkemeck congregation and surround- 
ed it. After the services were ended, and the Major and 
Capt. Westbrook had gone out, they were captured and made 
prrsoners, after a harsh rough-and-tumble struggle. The 
Major was taken and confined in the Jersey colony prison, 
from which he was soon released. Not long after this, by 
the establiehment of a new line between the colonies, as 
previously remarked, all the border disputes and personal 
frays ended. 



380 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

The meaning of the Indian word Mahaghkemeck we do 
not know, but have been informed it was the original Indian 
name of the Neversink River. The two names may express 
the same thing. 

FRENCH WAR AND INDIAN INCIDENTS. 

About sixty rears from the time of settlement, and when 
i lie people had acquired some property and were enabled to 
live comfortably, the settlers were doomed to undergo 
greater troubles and dangers than they had experienced at 
any time from their New Jersey neighbors. What is called 
the old French and Indian war commenced in 1755, and 
was in fact a war between England and France, in which 
the Indians along the frontier took sides with the French, 
and generally left this part of the country. Some, on re- 
moving, went to one place — some to another ; while a num- 
ber of them proceeded to Cochecton, some forty miles distant, 
united themselves with the Indians who resided there, where 
they remained during the war. The Indians being hostile, 
rendered the situation of the settlement, and indeed all the 
frontier line, unpleasant and perilous. To ensure greater 
safety, a majority of the women and children were removed 
to Rochester, Naponagh, Warwarsink and Old Paltz, where 
by previous marriages nearly all of the old settlers had rela- 
tives living. Although all these places, except Old Paltz. 
were on the frontiers, still they were deemed more secure 
than Peenpack. 

At the commencement of this war, there were about thirty 
families within the limits of the present town of Deerpark, 
extending along the Neversink River the distance of eight or 
ten miles. At this time there was an upper and lower 
neighborhood, the latter extending down to the Delaware 
River. In the upper neighborhood, and within the distance 
of three or four miles, three small forts were built, and three 
in the lower neighborhood, within about the same distance. 
These were erected as places of refuge for the inhabitants, 
and for defence. One in the upper neighborhood was on 
the Neversink at the Northwest end of the settlement: one 
at the house of Peter Gumaer in the central part of (he neigh- 
borhood ; and the third at the Southwest end of ihe settle- 
ment, near the present dwelling house of Peter Swartwout. 
Esq. These three forts were occupied by about twelve fami- 
lies, and a few soldiers who were there from time to time. 

The locations of the three forts in the lower neighborhood 



AND MOUNT HOPE, 381 

are not known at the present day ; but at the time we speak 
of, were occupied by, and gave protection to, about eighteen 
families. 

The following - incidents show the troublesome and dan- 
gerous situation of these people. Three men went out armed 
to cut down a field of grain, and on arriving sat down their 
guns and went to work. A party of Indians, who had pre- 
viously ambushed themselves near the side of the field, 
when the opportunity served and the men at a distance from 
their arms, rushed in, intercepted them from their guns, and 
killed the three. 

At another time during the war, a party of Indians lay in 
ambush to get an opportunity to take the lower fort at Mr. 
Westfall's, sent two of their party to espy it, who discovered 
that there were only two women in the fort. While the 
two spies returned to inform their party, a small company of 
soldiers marching from New Jersey to Esopus, accidentally 
came along and stopped at the fort. They were scarcely 
seated before the Indians rushed in, and when they unex- 
pectedly found a number of men in the house, they immedi- 
ately fired their guns, and fell on the men with their toma- 
hawks. The soldiers fled to the chamber and other parts of 
the building, from which they shot at the Indians, and after 
a desperate fight compelled them to retire without taking the 
fort, though several of the soldiers were killed. 

A little boy, a son of Mr. Westfall, was taken prisoner du- 
ring the war, near this fort, and remained among the Indi- 
ans till after the war of the Revolution. When informed 
that, by the death of his father, he had become heir to a part, 
of his estate, he came to the town with an interpreter to get 
it. He was taken to the premises where his father had 
lived, and where he had been taken prisoner, and he said 
that he had no recollection of any object there, except a little 
pond of water near t he house where he was captured. His 
mother was then living, and being satisfied that he was her 
son, endeavored by personal appeals and every maternal and 
filial consideration, to persuade him to stay and abide with 
her — but he would not. Ills residence with the Indians had 
steeled his heart and feelings against all those considerations 
which actuate the conduct of civilized men : lie sold his es- 
tate, and joyfully returned to Indian life among his friends 
in the wilderness. 

While the war lasted the Indians continued their acarres- 
sions during the open winters, :n one of which they attacked 
the upper fort on the Neversink, the inmates of winch at the 



382 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

nine were principally soldiers. During the assault the house 
took tire, from the burning of the barn as was supposed, and 
the heat soon became so intense that the occupants were ob- 
liged to flee or perish. In their flight they were all killed but 
one. A woman, the wife of the captain of the garrison, and 
a black woman went into the cellar and remained there till 
the fire began to fall through the floor, when the white wo- 
man ran out and round the house, and the Indians followed 
and killed her. The black woman got out unperceived by 
them and secreted herself on the bank of the river till dark, 
when by a circuitous rout through the fields and woods she 
gained the fort at Gurnaer's, the only survivor to tell the tale 
of Indian horror. The captain was not at home at the time, 
but when he came and learned the history of the sad catastro- 
phe grieved much for the loss of his wife. 

The day the fort w T as attacked two women had been there, 
and while they remained, the soldiers were quite merry and 
told the black woman who was very fleshy, among other 
things, that they soon expected an attack from the Indians 
and that as she was so fat as not to be able to run she must 
not expect to escape, &c. The race was not to the swift 
in this instance. 

During the war the times were so troublesome and danger- 
ous that when the residents visited their families, removed to 
Rochester and other places as previously stated, they had to 
go armed in companies of several at a time or guarded by the 
soldiers along the lines. On one occasion William Cudde- 
back and Abraham Low returning alone from a visit of this 
kind in a wagon, were shot at by the Indians when near 
home and the latter was wounded in the shoulder, but by 
applying the whip pretty freely they left a wide margin for 
their pursuers. 

Many of the alarms of Indian attack turned out to be false 
to the no small joy of the parties in danger. On one occa- 
sion and before the forts were built, the female part of the 
family of William Cuddeback on hearing an alarm prepared 
to leave the house with the children, and secrete themselves 
near the river. Jacob Cuddeback, one of the family, then 
very old and blind, was solicited to accompany them, but re- 
fused, saying that, probably the Indians would not kill so old 
a man, and if they would it could not shorten his days much, 
and he would impede their flight. He staid and they left. — 
It turned out a false alarm and when he heard the family re- 
turning to the house, thinking them the Indians, hid himself 
under the lied. When he found out who they were, he thank- 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 383 

ed God that he was yet safe. On being chided afterwards 
for his cowardice and fear of death, old as he was, he replied 
that even a worm would crawl for its life. 

Tradition speaks very favorably of this aged man and ear- 
ly settler, and says that he was a person of vigorous mind, 
well educated, had an extensive historical knowledge and 
was thoroughly versed in the scriptures ; so much so, that 
questions on Theological subjects were generally submitted 
to his decision. He was employed to go to the Governor of 
the Colony and procure the patent of 1200 acres. He lived 
to be about 100 years old and retained his senses well till the 
last hour of his life. 

During this war the Peenpack neighborhood furnished the 
government for the Northern expedition with a wagon, hor- 
ses and teamster. 

In the appendix of our paper will be found the names of 
several persons who took an active part during this Indian 
war in defending the frontiers of Orange and Ulster counties. 
The war lasted but a few years and after its close some of the 
Indians returned to the settlement and continued till the com- 
mencement of the war of the Revolution, some of whom our 
friend Mr. Gumaer recollects to have seen. They were visit- 
ed occasionally by their friends residing at a distance. A 
trading intercourse was kept up between them and the whites, 
one bartering deer skins, fox skins, venison and bears meat, 
&c. with the other, for such articles of use and ornament as 
they wanted. John Westbrook kept a small store and 
tavern in a central part of the settlement which was the great 
depot and resort for Indian trade. They were very fond of 
cider, which being plenty they got of the farmers for nothing. 

After the close of the war the Rev. Thomas Romeyn re- 
commenced his ministerial labors in the congregation previ- 
ously mentioned, and continued there till 1771. During this 
brief period a general attendance was given to preaching, 
and on the days in which there were no services in the 
Churches, meetings of the people for reading the scriptures 
and other religious books with piayer were kept up and well 
attended. During Mr. Romeyn's time there was a deep and 
extensive schism in the Dutch Reformed Church in this place 
as elsewhere in the church at large. The difficulty grew out. 
of the right and authority of ordaining ministers, The 
Chui v eb in this country up to this time had been subordiaate 
to the classes of Amsterdam in the ordination of its ministers, 
and a part, of the body wished the continuance of such 
a state of things, while the other part were for casting 



384 TOWNS OV DEERl'ARK 

off this troublesome and unnecessary formality, and perform- 
ing the act by classes in this country. The former were call- 
ed Conference and the latter Coetus, who finally succeeded 
in their objects which made the Church here independent of 
that in Holland. Romeyn was a moderate member of the 
party called Conference, being- prejudiced probably by the 
fact that he had received his ordination vows and pastoral 
obligations in that country. Notwithstanding this schim 
the members of the congregation generally attended the 
preaching of Romeyn, though a few leading Church mem- 
bers opposed him and were influential enough to terminate 
his services in 1771. This strife continued more than thirty 
years, and the Conference party being of the settled order of 
affairs were the most intolerent and biggoted. The first meet- 
ing of the ministers to settle the question was held in the city 
of New York in 1737. It again met in 1738 when the new 
plan was adopted and sent to the classis in Amsterdam for 
their sanction. Nothing was heard of it till 1746, when a let- 
ter was received approbatory of the measure. Under the 
new order the first Coetus was held in Sept. 1747, and 
strange to say, that although the matter received the appro- 
bation of the Holland Church, the Conference party oppos- 
ed it till 1772, when it ceased to disturb the public mind. 

Some laughable incidents grew out of this controversy. — 
In one instance it broke up a marriage : the contracting par- 
ties being- on different sides of the question, they could not 
agree on the Dominie. Two of the belligerents met on the 
road, and having drove till their horses met, stopped, lei- 
surely took out pipe and tobacco, and commenced smoking. 
How long they continued tradition does not say. AtHack- 
ensack, N. J., the congregation shut the doors of the church 
frequently against Mr. Goetschius, their minister. On one 
occasion he got in, and the clerk — whose duly it was to read 
the commandments, a chapter from the Bible, and sing the 
psalm — to prevent, him from preaching, gave out the 119th 
psalm, to be sung by the congregation from end to end. Thi.s 
in the ordinary mode of singing would have consumed the 
day, but Mr. Goetschius, after having heard enough for an 
ordinary service, had the moral courage to resist and slop 
such novel proceeding. Ministers were compelled to be re- 
ordained, and children re-baptized. 

INDIAN HOSTILITIES OF THE REVOLUTION. 

The war of the Revolution brouffhl its additional Indian 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 385 

hostilities upon the inhabitants of these towns. At its com- 
mencement, the Indians again retired and joined the English, 
and only returned to the old settlement and graves of their 
fathers as enemies to the whites, and to commit all kinds of 
bloody deeds. Their first incursion was in 1777, when they 
attacked the family of Mr. Sprague, who lived in the North- 
ern part of the town. The next year they attacked the family 
of Mr. Brooks, some of whom they killed and took others of 
them prisoners. 

Previous to the above date little danger had been appre- 
hended, and at the time the militia of the town were doing 
duty elsewhere — when Capt. Cuddeback, Gerardus Swart- 
wout, Cornelius Swartwout and Gerardus Van Inwegen, on 
whose personal presence and exertions the people chiefly re- 
lied for protection, were at Fort Montgomery when it was 
taken ; and though the others did, Van Inwegen never re- 
turned. Capt. Cuddeback with a party of men was sent 
across the river to prevent the enemy from loosening or 
otherwise injuring the chain stretched across it ; while the 
Swartwouts with Van Inwegan remained in the fort. Thus 
the Captain was not in the battle. The Swartwouts escaped 
and Van Inwegan was killed. The party crossed the river 
on the framework of logs, constructed to buoy up the chain, 
keep it near the surface, and prevent its breaking with its 
own weight. 

These Indian attacks alarmed the people, and the Com 
rnittee of Safety, who had the charge of home military de- 
fences, began to act with vigilance. They directed scouting 
parties from time to time to look over and scour the frontief, 
in doing which they swept over the woods as far as Cochec- 
ton, a distance of forty miles, where'a few families had set- 
lied before the war. Persons suspected of aiding the enemy 
were apprehended and imprisoned by them or discharged. — 
Through their intercession the militia of the town were per- 
mitted to remain at home, to guard that frontier. They or- 
dered the erection of three forts in the neighborhood of 
Peenpack — one at the house of Jacob Rutsen De Witt ; one 
nt the house of Benjamin De Puy, Esq. ; and the third at the 
house of Ezekiel Gumaer. 

At this time the Peenpack neighborhood extended from 
the line between Orange and Ulster, to what is now Cudde- 
backville, a distance of four miles, and was in Ulster county. 
Benjamin Dn Puy, Philip Swartwout and Thomas Kytte 
were the first committee for the town. The first two were 
Justices of Mamakating. Harmanus Van Inwegen became 

z 



386 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 



a member afterwards. The lower neighborhood, called 
"Over the River Neighborhood,-' because on the opposite 
side of the Neversink, extended down to the Delaware, and 
was in the old county of Orange. Though our informant is 
not certain whether or not there was a committee there, yet 
he thinks no forts were erected to defend that neighborhood. 
Our informant's father sent him — then six or eight years 
old — w ith his mother to Mr. James Finch's, who lived at 
what is now called Finchville. Benjamin Du Puy and one 
or two of his sons sent their wives and small children to Ma- 
jor Phillips' for safety. Some women and children encamped 
in the woods on the East side of the Neversink for a short 
time. The forts were each garrisoned by a few soldiers, 
called nine months' men, sent for the purpose from different 

places. 

When the war commenced there were about fifty families 
within the limits of Deerpark, which removed to the forts 
when they were erected. On the 13th of October, 1778. a 
party of nearly one hundred Indians and Tories, commanded 
by Captain Brandt, invaded the settlement. They first fell 
upon the family of Mr. Westfall, and killed one man. They 
next attacked the house of Mr. Swartwout, who was at home 
with his sons, the women having been removed to the fort. 
They all endeavored to escape, but one of the sons was shot 
down between the house and barn. Another ran to the 
river half a mile off, swam it, and was shot near the opposite 
shore. The father, an old man, and two of his other sons 
ran on together for his assistance, but finding that they would 
soon be overtaken, the father told his son James, a very ac- 
tive strong man, to run and save himself, which he did. — 
The Indians pursued him half a mile over fences and across 
lots, when he gained the fort, and they gave up the chase. 
The father and the other son were soon overtaken and des- 
patched. 

When the firing of guns was heard, those who were out 
on their farms repaired to the forts at Gumaer's and De 
Witt's. The other fort was abandoned, as there were no 
troops to garrison it. As there were but few men ,in Fort 
Gumaer, Capt. Cuddeback who commanded, in order to de- 
ceive the enemy, paraded all the women and young people 
back of the house and fort, collected all the hats and coats 
about the house, and put them on the women. He also 
placed the spare guns and sticks in their hands, so that all 
might appear to be soldiers. When the enemy came in 
sight of the fort, the Captain ordered the drum to beait, and 



r 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 387 

marched them in Indian file from the rear to the front of the 
fort, and entered it in a distant but distinct view of the Indi- 
ans. The women and children were ordered into the cellar. 
Anna Swartwout — a large woman, somewhat in years, the 
widow of Major James Swartwout — told the Captain that she 
would take a pitchfork, which had been brought into the fort 
as a defensive weapon, and remain with the men, and assist 
in case the enemy should attempt to enter. The Captain 
granted the request, and she took the fork, and in true mili- 
tary bearing walked about anxiously observing the conduct 
of the Indians, and ready to defend her castle. 

The fort was a picket fort with nine men, with the families 
of the neighborhood in it. It was situated on open land, and 
could not be approached in day time by the Indians, without 
their being seen ; and as the inhabitants were known to be 
good marksmen, they did not approach within gun shot. As 
the enemy passed a few shots were fired from the fort without 
effect. They passed on to Fort De Wilt, where they took a 
station on a hill in the woods, and fired a few shot at the fort 
and house without any other effect than killing Capt. New- 
kirk's horse. The fort returned the compliment with the 
same result, doing no harm, as was known when the enemy 
retired from the settlement the same day. 

They burned all the houses and barns in the vicinity, exr 
cept those houses which were saved by the extinguishment 
of the fire after being communicated to them. This produced 
great distress for a time, for the inhabitants were despoiled 
of their grain, hay, buildings, furniture, etc. The day after 
the enemy retired, Major Phillips of Phillipsburgh arrived 
with a company of militia, but the damage had been done 
and the spoliators had departed, 

In our statements of Indian aggression we are brought 
down to 1779, (he year in which the memorable battle of 
Minisink took place. This we shall not particularly notice 
or describe in this place; but for certain reasons which we 
deem satisfactory, refer to it more at large in our notice of 
the town of Goshen. No one town in the county, in point 
of fact, has any exclusive claim to the patriot devotion of her 
citizens on that occasion, or to its dear-bought glories ; for 
the fight was beyond the present limits of the county-r-but as 
Goshen holds in sacred ground the honored dust of the slain, 
and suffered most deeply in the extent of her loss, we place 
the battle of Minisink beside the monument which commemo- 
rates it. 

But as there were several interesting incidents which took 



388 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

place in this vicinity during the incursion and just before the 
battle, we will relate them here, and thus isolate them from 
the engagement which was brought on, as the Indians were 
retiring from this county. 

In July, 1779, Capt. Brandt with a company of Indians 
and Tories invaded what we have called the " Lower Neigh- 
borhood " in this town. His first assault was upon the fort 
at Major Decker's, which he entered unawares — the men 
being out — and two negro boys were taken prisoners. Then 
the party proceeded to the dwelling of Anthony Van Etten, 
Esq., where a few Indians entered a blacksmith's shop, 
where a black man worked. Mr. James Swartwout, who 
had the race with the Indian, as previously staled, happened 
to be in at the time, and it was agreed that he should get up 
into the chimney and secrete himself there, and that the ne- 
gro should stay in the shop, as the Indians probably would 
not kill or injure him. This was done, and the Indians 
came in and on looking around saw no one but the negro. — 
They took up, handled, threw over and tumbled down the 
various articles in the shop, and then one of them took hold 
of the handle of the bellows, and began to blow up the rlre 
at a most furious rate. The negro, knowing the effect of the 
heat and smoke on his friend in the chimney, put his hand 
on the Indian, and told him to " stop or he would spoil that 
thing." He respected the caution and ceased to blow, when 
they left the shop. Swartwout came down quite exhausted 
by breathing the smoke and heated air, and by the great ex- 
ertion necessary to brace and keep himself from falling down 
for so long a time. The artifice succeeded and he escaped. 

When the Indians were discovered approaching the house 
of James Van Vleit, the inmates fled. Roolif Cuddeback, 
who was there at the time, ran into the woods pursued by an 
Indian. When nearly overtaken, he turned upon him ; upon 
which the Indian stopped and threw his tomahawk at him, 
but it struck a bush and missed its mark. Cuddeback closed 
in with him, both being without weapons except a knife 
which the Indian had in his belt. The struggle was severe — 
for life or death — each endeavoring to possess himself of the 
fatal instrument. It fell to the ground and was of no use to 
either. The battle was continued till bolh were nearly ex- 
hausted, when the Indian freeing himself from the grasp of 
Cuddeback left him, while the latter hastened to escape pur- 
suit by the other Indians. Cuddeback was a strong man, 
and too powerful for the Indian ; but he afterwards stated that 
the Indian was very supple, and in the struggle became aa 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 389 

ked, and his skin was so slippery, by reason of grease and free 
perspiration that it gave him the chance very readily to es- 
cape from his holds and grips. It was said that the Indian 
died a few years after, with the wounds and injuries received 
in the encounter. The father of this Indian was shot while 
crossing the river on horseback by Capt. Cuddeback, the 
brother of James Cuddeback, during this incursion, as Mr. 
Gumaer was informed a few years before the Revolution by 
a gentleman from Rochester, who knew the Indians while 
residing there. 

This day there had been a funeral, and Major Decker and 
some others on their return on horseback met the Indians, 
who shot at and wounded the Major, who rode into the woods 
and escaped. There was some firing at the Van Auken fort, 
and one man killed. An Indian attempting to get to a build- 
ing near the fort to set it on fire was shot. By this time the 
smoke of the dwellings was seen ascending in many direc- 
tions, and generally known that the Indians, with Brandt at 
their head, were there. The very name of this leader struck 
the inhabitants with terror, as when u the lion is known to 
prowl around an African hamlet." An occurrence took 
place here which shows that this cruel and hard-hearled war- 
rior still contained a spark of humanity. The Indians had 
visited the school house, and threatened to exterminate one 
generation of the settlement at a blow. Jeremiah Van Au- 
ken was the teacher, and they took him from the house, con- 
veyed him about half a mile off and then killed him. Some 
of the boys in the school were cleft with the tomahawk; 
others fled to the woods for concealment from their bloody 
assailants ; while the little girls stood by the slain body of 
their teacher bewildered and horror struck, not knowing 
their own fate, whether death or captivity. While they 
were standing in this pitiful condition, a strong muscular In- 
dian suddenly came along, and with a brush dashed some 
black paint across their aprons, bidding them "hold up the 
mark when they saw an Indian coming, and it would save 
them;" and with the yell of a savage plunged into the 
woods and disappeared. This was Brant, and the little 
daughters of the settlers were safe. The Indians, as they 
passed along and ran from place to place, saw the black 
mark, and left the children undisturbed. The happy thought, 
like a flash of lightning, entered the minds of these little sis- 
ters, and suggested that they could use the mark to save 
their brothers. The scattered boys were quickly assembled, 
and the girls threw their aprons over the clothes of the boys, 



390 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

and stamped the black impression upon their outer garments* 
They in turn held up the Palladium of safety as the Indian- 
passed and re-passed, and these children were thus saved 
from injury and death to the unexpected joy of their parents. 
Mrs. Leah Van Auken escaped by hiding herself in a ditch. 
This was the day before the battle of Minisink. During this 
invasion the Indians took or destroyed the goods and chattels 
of the people, plundered and burnt their houses and barns- — 
and with them, the first old church built there for the Ma- 
hakemeck congregation on the confines of three States. 

After the war ended the people here had much to do to 
reinstate themselves in as good condition as thev were before 
the war commenced. Much money was lost by the depreci- 
ation and annul ity of the Continental paper currency, and 
most of the buildings, together with household goods and 
furniture were burnt, horses taken, etc. And as they could 
not make money by their farming business to enable them 
to build, some in the upper neighborhood undertook to raft 
round timber down the Neversink River for the Philadelphia 
market, from the forest above the settlement. The stream 
was rough, and even now is not navigable for rafting, not- 
withstanding considerable money was expended a lew years 
since to make it so- In this they met with many disaster- . 
one man was drowned, and the experiment was abandoned. 
After which, timber was got out and thrown into the river, 
which in the freshets floated down, and whatever of it could 
be found where the river was navigable, was collected and 
rafted by the owners (each one having previously marked his 
own) down the Neversink and Delaware Rivers to Philadel- 
phia. The navigation of the rivers was then very imperfectly 
understood. 

Before the inhabitants of the upper neighborhood could 
commence building dwelling houses, etc., they had to build 
some mills to manufacture material? for the purpose. Three 
men became partners to build one saw mill, and three others 
to build another, wherewith each manufactured materials for 
his own use, and also for others who were not owners. One 
of these mills (on Bush kill) did considerable business for 
some years afterwards. 

Farms having become small before the war commenced, a 
large proportion of the inhabitants a few years after it ended 
became desirous of emigrating into a new country, to advance 
their interests. Moses De Witt, a young man of this neigh- 
borhood, son of Jacob R. De Witt, who was naturally well 
talented and in a great measure self taught, after serving a< 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 391 

an under surveyor in the business of this State, to run a line 
for dividing the Slates of Pennsylvania and New York, and 
surveying some State land at and in the vicinity of Tioga 
Point, became one of the surveyors of the military lands ; 
and he, together with Major Hardenburgh, were appointed 
to have the agency of that business. Peter G. Cuddeback, 
another young man of this town, was employed by them for 
a time as an under surveyor. From them early information 
was received here of the good quality 01 those lands, which, 
together with the influence of De Witt, led to the emigration 
of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the place into that 
district of country, who were among the first pioneers. This 
did not only advance the interest of those who removed, but 
of those who remained, for their farms were much enlarged 
in consequence of it. 

Since the Delaware and Hudson Canal has been in opera- 
tion, the population of this town has been increased by emi- 
gration from other parts, and its business consequently ex- 
tended. For this great work much is due to Maurice Wurtts. 
He was the first who traversed this county in search of a 
route for its construction towards Newbuigh, and found the 
Shawangnnk mountains together with other inconveniences 
a great obstacle, and to appearances insurmountable. He 
directed to Abraham Cuddeback, Esq., who resided in 
the vicinity of a gap in the mountain — in which the construc- 
tion of the New York and Erie Railroad is now in operation 
— who informed him that the valley leading to Kingston wa* 
the most feasible route for a canal ; and on being informed 
oi' its position, stream, etc., concluded that the construction 
of a canal was practicable through that valley. He after- 
wards attended the engineering of the route and construction 
of the canal, which last was principally executed through 
this town in 1826. 

This town is indebted for many advantages to this work. 
The small flourishing village of Port Jervis, through which 
the canal passes, had its origin at the commencement of the 
navigation thereat, and owes its population to that work.* 
There are now five stores and groceries in this village : three 
taverns in spacious buildings ; one three story grist mill, 
built by Doct. Ball of Brooklyn, being a stone building, and 
has four run of stone in it : three churches — a Dutch Reform- 
ed, a Baptist and a Methodist Church — and one large school 



"Gilbert F. Mondon and Stephen St. John were the first merchants iu this village, BDd they 
nod Dr. Conklin were the first in this town who abandoned the sale or ppirituoU3 liquors 
BeDJaroin Dodge at first was in company with St. John. 



392 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

house. The different branches of mechanical country busi- 
ness are also carried on. A considerable amount of lumber 
is brought in and sold. Coal is deposited and sold. A mail 
route, from Kingston in Ulster county to Mil ford in Pennsyl- 
vania, and from thence to the city of Philadelphia, passes 
through this village and crosses the Delaware at about half a 
mile distant. The Neversink Bridge place is about one mile 
Southerly of Port Jervis ; Huguenot about four and Cudde- 
backville about eight miles Northeast. These are small 
places ; the two latter on the canal and mail route. 

Delaware River was named after Lord Delaware. This 
river was by the Dutch generally called " Viskill," which 
in English is Fish River. It was also called " South River ' 
by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Hudson. From the 
name of this river originated the name of Delaware Indians, 
in consequence of residing in its vicinity. 

Mahackemeck. — This is the Indian name of the river run- 
ning through this town, now known as the Neversink. The 
name of this stream in the old deeds and writings was " Ma- 
hackemeck," and gave origin to the name of "Mahackemeck 
Congregation," along which the principal part of the mem- 
bers of this congregation resided. 

Neversink, the present name, is considered to be expressive 
of the Indian idea which implies " a continual running 
stream," which never sinks into the ground, so as to become 
dry in places. So far as we aic informed by those acquainted 
with the river, no part of it ever becomes dry, and is about 
two hundred feet wide. 

The name also is said to refer to the rapidity of the stream, 
in which things never sink, but are carried along with the 
current. We think this fanciful guess work, and a mere ex- 
planation by two English words which happen to correspond 
in sound with what has always been supposed to be Indian. 
Doubtless the river was known to the Indians by its present 
name, before they ever heard a pale face speak English. 

Mongaup. — This is the name of the stream on which the 
Northwest part of the town is bounded. We presume it is 
Indian, but do not know its etymology. It might be Dutch : 
it sounds very like what, in Dutch would be pronounced 
Maw gape, according to the broad sound of the a; and might. 
have been derived from a struggle of some kind in that stream. 
It is about eighty feet wide. 

Bashes Kill. — This stream empties in the Neversink River. 
It received its name from a squaw by the name of Bashee, 



AND MOUNT HOPE. S93 

who resided near Westbrookville in Sullivan county. It 
is about seventy feet wide. 

Ouwe-dam Kill is Dutch — being - Old Dam Brook in En- 
glish. This brook received its name from the circumstance 
of the remains of an old mill clam, of the first or one of the 
first mills in the town, which overflowed a long tract of low 
land, which after it became in some measure drained off, was 
termed Old Dam. 

Shingle Brook. — This in the Dutch was termed Syngle 
Kill. The name must have originated from the making of 
shingles along it in former times. 

Grassy Swamp Brook. — This rises in Sullivan county, runs 
South, through the Southwest coiner of the town, and unites 
with the Mongaup, a few miles West of where that stream 
enters the Delaware. It has its name from the nature of the 
locality where it originates, which is a low natural meadow, 
overgrown with long coarse grass. 

Fall Brook. — This stream discharges into the Neversink, 
and a quarter of a mile before it meets it, falls over the face 
of the mountain, forming a beautiful cascade. The whole 
fall within one mile is said to be six hundred feet, as found 
by Col. Clinton; two hundred of which is in one place and 
nearlyperpendicular. The name is from the fall of the stream. 

Big Pond. — This is the largest pond of the town, situate 
in lots No. 35 and 36 in the first division of the Minisink 
Patent, near the Southeast end. This pond with its marsh 
is about one mile long, and between a quarter and half a mile 
wide ; its length extends Northeast and Southwest. 

Little Pond. — This is the name of a smaller pond ; the 
greater part of which is in lot No. 37 of the same division, 
and extends into expense lot No. 2 of the same division. — 
Its outlet is a branch of Old Dam Brook, and the outlet of 
Big Pond is a main branch of Shiugle Brook. This pond is 
between a quarter and half a mile in diameter, and not much 
longer than its width. The size of the ponds determines their 
names. 

Penhausen's Landt or Penhause?i , s Land. — This was the 
name of an Indian chief, who in former times resided near 
the present residence of Levi Van Etten, Esq., on the rich 
bottom lands in that neighborhood. In old times, when 
speaking of a good piece of land, it was common to compare 
it with Penhausen's Land. 

Seneyaughquan was an Indian name of the place where 
Major Swartwout in his time resided — now the residence of 
Col. Peter Swartwout. This name of late years is seldom 



394 TOWNS OF DEERPARK 

used. It signifies " a bridge across a brook," with an ad- 
dition to designate its place which we do not know. 

This bridge was no more than a log or tree, which laid 
across the brook, on which the Indians crossed it at Swart- 
wont's. 

Cuddebackville. — This village is in the Northern part of the 
town, and on the line of the canal. It lias sprung up into 
being and notoriety within a few years, from its favorable 
location. The name was from Col. William Cuddeback, who 
owned the site. 

Port Jervis. — A small village on the canal where it first 
approaches the Delaware. It is named after Mr. Jervis, who 
laid out and superintended the construction of the canal. It 
is just above Carpenter's Point, and the junction of the Never- 
sink and Delaware. 

Westbrookville. — This is another small village of recent or- 
igin, and vegetated in the hot bed of the canal. The name 
was from the Weslbrooks, the patrons of the place. 

Hones Dale. — This is North of Port Jervis and on the canal 
which supports it. It was called after Mr. Philip Hone of 
New Yofk, one of the early friends of the canal, with the ad- 
dition of the Gothic Dale, meaning vale or valley. 

Bolton: — This village is also on the line of the canal, and 
up the river above Honesdale, where the Shingle Kill (Miters 
the Delaware. It has its name from John Bolton, an original 
member of the canal company. This canal has been the 
means of immortalizing more men than any other work <>l 
the same magnitude on the globe, in ancient or modern times, 
as far as we know. But no matter: the more the better — 
for we go strongly for the immortality of the whole race, es- 
pecially if they deserve it by their good works,' as in this 
instance. 

Huguenot. — This is another small place on the canal, 
North of Port Jervis, and in the central part of the town. — 
The name is a corruption of Huguenot, and is historical, geo- 
graphical and reverential. We are happy in writing it in 
our paper, commend the individual for its bestowment, and 
for the patriot spirit which erected this public and durable 
monument to those persecuted Christian emigrants. Those 
pilgrims deserve more of immortality than is ensured by a 
mere name. 

Carpenter' 's Point. — This is a point of land made by the 
junction of the Neversink and Delaware Rivers, just South 
of Port Jervis. The place has been long and extensively 
known by this name. There is a ferry across the Dela- 






AND MOUNT HOPE. 395 

ware at this place. The settlement consists of a few houses, 
not on the point, but on the East side of the Neversink. The 
name is said to be from an old settler of the name Carpen- 
ter, who owned the point and established the ferry. 

Shawangunk Mountain. — This is one of the principal bi- 
furcations of the Appalachian chain, and divides Deerpark 
from Mount Hope and Minisink. The word is Indian, and 
means " white rocks or mountains." Shawen in the Mohe- 
gan language is "white" — also, "salt;" and gunk, "a 
large rock or pile of rocks." The term is said to have been 
applied by the Indians to that part of the mountain which 
faces to the East, in the town of Shawangunk, Ulster county, 
where the rocks are white, being the kind out of which the 
Esopus mill stones are made. 

Sokapack. — This is also an Indian name of a place in this 
town, which we have understood from an old man, Guasau- 
lec, to be also significant of a spring of water. 

Lovjer Neighborhood. — In respect to the first settlers of the 
lower neighborhood from the line which formerly divided the 
counties of Orange and Ulster to the Delaware River, we 
cannot, from any knowledge of our own, or from inquiry, 
discover that any settlement was made in that neighborhood 
prior to that by these persons hereinafter mentioned. They 
were cotemporary with the children of the first settlers at 
Peenpack, and three of them had married daughters of those 
first settlers. The children of Peter Gumaer, the greatgrand- 
father of Peter E. Gumaer, were six in number, and born 
between the years 1693 and 1708; from which we calculate 
that the lower neighborhood must have been settled between 
the years 1710 and 1725. In examining old surveys to dis- 
cover the dates of tracts of land in that neighborhood anciently 
surveyed, we have found only one. This survey was made 
in 1713. We have understood that when this tract Avas sur- 
veyed, the line was run so as to leave the " Old Dam Kill 
Mill " outside of the survey : from which it appears the mill 
was there at the time, and that no occupants were on the 
tract then surveyed. The tract, however, includes the pre- 
mises where the mill was, and they must have surveyed so 
as to deceive the owner. This tract appears to have been 
three, five, and twentieth parts of a proprietary purchased by 
John Reading from Richard Heritage. These persons ap- 
pear to have been land speculators, and did not reside in this 
vicinity. 

First and Other Early Settlers. — The following left 
hand column exhibits the names of the first settlers, and the 



396 



TOWNS OF DEERPARK 



right hand column the names of the present residents and 
owners of the several farms of the former in the lower neigh- 
borhood : 



ANCIENT OWNERS. 

Henry Cortright, 
Thomas Decker, 
Solomon Davis, a mill seat now owned by 

Westfall, 

Cole, 

John Van Fliet, 
James Van Auken,* 

William Cole, 

Peter Cuykendall, 

John Decker, 

Henry Decker, Mill seat, 

John Decker, jun., 

John Westbrook, 

Evert Hornbeck, 
Abraham Van Auken, 



PRESENT OWNERS. 

Joel Whitloch, 

Henry Cuddeback. 

Thomas Van Etten. 
\ Levi Van Etten and 
) Thomas Van Etten. 
( Michael Van FJeit, 
( Solomon Van Fleit. 

James D. Swartwout. 
( Cornelius W. Cole, and 
\ Eli Van Inwegen. 

Gilbert F. Mondon, 

Stephen St. John, 

Benjamin Cuddeback. 

Simon Westfall, jun. 

Abraham J. Cuddeback, 
and Isaaac Cuddeback. 

Joseph Cuddeback, 

David Swartwout, 



These men were Holland Dutch, and their ancestors from 
lb at. country. They emigrated from Rochester and other 
places between this and Kingston into the lower neighbor- 
hood, and their descendents remained on the premises of 
their forefathers till after the Revolutionary war, and until 
many of them emigrated into new countries. 

The first residence of the seven men who settled at Peen- 
pack — Jacob Cuddeback, Peter Gumaer, Thomas Swartwout, 
Gerardus Swartwout, Jon or John Tys and David Jamison 
— was on the farm now owned by Peter E. Gumaer. 

De Witt Family. — We have understood that there were 
four brothers of that name, who emigrated from Holland to 
Mils country. One settled at the town of Hurley, one at 
Membacker's in the town of Rochester ; one at Naponagh in 
lister county, and the fourth on the North River, probably 
in Dutchess county. Each of the first three owned a fine 
farm of the best river land. Jacob Rutsen De Witt, who 
lived in the Peonpack neighborhood, was adescendent of the 
one who settled at Naponagh and the grandson of that 
brother. The father of Jacob R. De Witt had nine sons and 
<me daughter. The daughter was the wife of Gen. James 
Clinton. These nine brothers and sister were cotemporary 
with the children of the first settlers in Deerpark. One of 



'The farms of these men are on the Ian J which was owned by the Indian chief Penhausen. 
There still are remains of an Indian burying ground at or near the resident place of Penhausen 



AND MOUNT HOPE. 397 

these nine brothers, Doct. Andrew De Witt, was the father of 
Simeon De Witt, who was for many years Surveyor General 
of the State. He had another son — we believe, a physician 
— in the city of New York ; and Dr. De Witt, of the Dutch 
Church in that city, is a descendent of one of the nine brothers. 

We are not certain what the name of the father of the nine 
sons was, but infer it was Egbert. The old people of former 
times in this neighborhood, when speaking of him, called 
him Abbert De Witt, as the Dutch would speak it. Jacob 
R. De Witt, his son, married Jane Depuy, daughter of Mosey 
Depuy of Rochester, a very respectable and wealthy farmer. 
He called his oldest son Moses, after his father-in-law, and 
his second Egbert, which, according to custom, would be 
after his own father. This speculation must go for what it 
is worth. 

Jacob R. De Witt's oldest son was Moses De Witt ; in 
person large and well favored, very social and agreeable in 
his manner and conversation. The Indians esteemed him 
highly, and when he died deeply lamented his death. This 
speaks a thousand facts in his favor, for one man like this, in 
a new settlement, surrounded by Indians, liable to be excited 
and provoked to revenge and murder by the least and unin- 
tended injury, was like a garment to the settlement which 
covered up a multitude of their offences against them. n /his 
young man obtained his education from an individual by the 
name of Thomas White, an Englishman who came (o the 
neighborhood about the beginning of the war. A mutual 
attachment grew up between him and the people, and during 
the period of hostilities he took shelter with his wife in Foil 
Gumaer to abide the result. As the condition of things in 
the settlement and state of the country justified it, he kept 
school in a small house built for the purpose near the fort. — 
What De Witt failed to learn here he afterwards accomplished 
in the family of General Clinton. 

He died early, but when we do not know. We are in- 
formed that Peter E. Gumaer, Esq., in the winter of 1787 
studied surveying with Mr. De Witt, who, during the previ- 
ous summer, had been out on the line then being run to di- 
vide the States of New York and Pennsylvania. He was then 
about twenty-two years old. 

We are not skilled in tracing out geneology, and will be 
content to leave it to the biographer of the family. It s 
sufficient for our purpose to know and slate that this family 
was respectable, and very early in Ulster and Orange, and 
largely contributed to clear up and settle the country; — that 



398 TOWN OF DEERPARK. 

when the war of the Revolution came, they with their fellow 
citizens, patriotically endured its hardships and perils, and 
that we this day are partakers of the benefits they secured to 
us. The descendents of these four brothers are very nume- 
rous, highly respectable, and found in every station and 
pursuit in life, but we have not the necessary information to 
trace down a line of descent. 



OLD CHURCHES. 

The names of the first, four churches which were united for 
the service of one preacher, and their localities, were as fol- 
lows ; — 

Mahackemeck Church was the name of one of them, 
in the present town of Deerpark, formerly in the town of 
Minisink, in the county of Orange. TJie place where the 
church stood is about a half mile South of Port Jervis, and 
about the same distance Northeast from the point of the 
junction of the Neversink and Delaware Rivers, on the road 
from Port Jervis to the Neversink bridge. On the same spot 
where the church stood — burnt in the Revolutionary war — 
the second church was built after the war, which, a few years 
ago, was taken down and its materials removed ; previous to 
which a new church had been built in the village of Port 
Jervis. The name of the Dutch Reformed Church in Port 
Jervis now is " The Reformed Dutch Church of Deerpark." 
The name was altered in 1838 by an act of the Legislature. 
Minisink Church. — This was the ancient name of the 
church at a place then called Minisink, which, we presume, 
was the Indian name of a district of country of some extent, 
in the neighborhood of that church. Although the name by 
foreigners was generally applied to a district of twenty or 
thirty miles through this valley, yet the inhabitants only 
made use of the name for the neighborhood in the vicinity of 
the church, and principally Southwest of it. This church 
was situated about eight miles Southwest of the Mahacke- 
meck Church in the state of New Jersey, and must have been 
in the township of Montaque or Sandison, near the line. It 
stood about a quarter of a mile Southwesterly of a store kept 
for some years by Judge St nil , where the turnpike crosses 
the highway leading Southwesterly. 

A new church has lately been built about one mile North- 
erly from where the first Minisink church stood. We do not 
know the name of it. Minisink was pronounced Minnieing 
in former times by the Dutch. 



TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. 399 

Walpeck Church. — This was the name of the ancient 
church at or below a place formerly termed Walpeck or 
Waulpeck. This was also in the state of New Jersey, and 
from present enquiry we are informed was about fifteen or 
sixteen miles distant from the former Minisink Church. We 
do not know the name of the township in which this church 
was situated. 

Smithfield Church. — This was ihe ancient name of the 
church at Smithfield which we are informed was about eight 
or ten miles from the first Walpeck Church. Whether there 
is still a church there or not, we do not know. The Ma- 
hackemeck congregation extended about eight miles North- 
cast from the. church, and it is probable that the Smithfield 
congregation must have extended between five and ten miles 
below its meeting house, which would make an extent of 
between forty-five»and fifty miles covered by the four congre- 
gations. But one of these churches was in Orange ; yet as 
they are very ancient, and were supplied by a gospel ministry 
under peculiar circumstances, we could not do less than to 
name and locate them. We revere them for their antiquitv 
in the annals of the country. 

In 1785 the Rev.EliasVan Bennschotenbecame the preach- 
er of the three congregations of Mahackemeck, Minisink and 
Walpeck. He continued his services till 1795. One half of 
his services were in Dutch, the other in English. Since Van 
Bennschoten left the following persons have officiated as 
pastors in some or all of the chu relies referred to : — the Rev. 
Messrs. Dundrest, Elting and Van Wyck. The last named 
is the present preacher. The names of these churches are as 
they were called by Mr. Van Bennschoten. 



TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. 

This town, when first erected in 1825, was called Calhoun, 
in honor of John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. This gen- 
tleman had acted so noble and patriotic a part in the great 
transactions of the country, and especially as Secretary at 
War in the war of 1812, that the citizens, in admiration of 
his talents and gratitude for his past services, intended by the 
act to stamp his name upon the hills and mountains, among 
whose tops and in whose rallies they dwelt, and thus carry 
his fame down to future ages. Thus stereotyped upon the 
broad face of the land, no drought could burn it out and no 



400 TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. 

deluge obliterate it, while time and the remembrance of his 
good deeds would deepen the impression from age to age. 

But in about 1831 or 1832, a heresy, deep rooted, disor- 
ganizing, and fatal to the public weal, had in their deliberate 
judgment, seized upon the mind of Mr. Calhoun, infusing its 
deadly poison more and more from year to year ; and they 
called a public meeting, as numerous and patriotic as ever 
assembled in the vicinity before or since, the heavy surge of 
whose popular wave, more potent and destructive than the 
combined powers of time and the elements, obliterated clean 
and forever the odious name, and engraved in its place, in 
new and fairest lines, the name of Mount Hope. Nothing 
short of the purest patriotism, we think, wpuld take the 
trouble to do a deed like this. 

New Vernon. — This village is in the Northeast corner of 
the town, and so named to distinguish it from Vernon in }iew 
Jersey. The word is from the Latin Vernus, relating to 
Spring, with " New " prefixed. It is a very pretty name, 
pleasant to the ear and easily pronounced ; the whole ex- 
pressing the freshness and beauty of Spring, the season of 
flowers. 

Otisville. — This village is West of the Shawangunk Kill, 
about midway the town North and South, and near the base 
of Shawangunk Mountain. The location is pleasant, and 
some of the lands in the immediate vicinity are of good qual- 
ity for agricultural purposes. The name is from Isaac Otis. 
who settled at the place, tiansacted mercantile business there, 
and a village soon grew up around him. This gentleman is 
well esteemed in that vicinity as an enterprising and honest 
man, and now resides in the city of New York. The villag 
is on the line of the New York and Eiie Railroad. 

Mount Hope Village. — This is the oldest village in the 
town, situated in the Southern part, and gave name to it. — 
As the name imports, the situation is elevated, the highest in 
the town. The etymology has already been given. For 
many years the place did a brisk lumber business, and sup- 
plied large quantities of boards and shingles to the county. — 
In these articles the trade is not as extensive and profitable as 
formerly, though still respectable. The village does a good 
<-ounty business, and its growth, though slow, is sure and real. 

The business of the county generally has been so cut up, 
modified and diverted within the last twenty years, by the 
construction of canals, highways, railroads and the division 
of towns, that (lie old established places which struggled for 
an early existence, lived through good and hard times, and 



TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. 401 

bore the heat and burden of the day, have not grown as ra- 
pidly as they ought, from the competition of the more recent 
and favored localities. As a general rule, we are inclined to 
patronise the "old lines" as long ns we conveniently can. 

Benjamin Woodward, Esq. was one of the early patrons 
of the place and did business there, and with Benjamin 
Dodge, Esq., was instrumental in originating and carrying 
forward all those little acts and appliances, difficult to be told, 
though of yearly necessity, which give animation and growth 
to such a place. As a general rule, it is the few who do these 
things in every locality. This gentleman was of an enter- 
prising turn of mind, and took a deep interest in the improve- 
ments of the town, which brought him early into public no- 
tice, both at home and abroad. Having the confidence of 
the people, and being of the Democratic party, he was hon- 
ored with the station of State Senator, which he held for two 
terms. These elevated stations, however, he found sur- 
rounded by multiplied seductions, which required all his 
manly- efforts to resist, and he experienced the truth of the 
old saying, that "The destiny of every man is in his own 
hands," more or less. We cannot say he came out of the 
ordeal unharmed. Though all of us believe the truth above 
stated, yet how many of us fail to realize the results of a 
vigorous and indomitable perseverance in all the ways ol 
well doing. Every man can be greater, more distinguished 
and virtuous than he is, and can be less so. 

Benjamin Dodge and Stephen St. John were also alike 
beneficial enterprising men at this locality for many years, 
and well deserve the grateful remembrance of its citizens. — ■ 
These gentlemen, we believe, are both living. 

Finchville. — This village is of recent growth, and situ- 
ated on the west bank of the Shawangunk Kill, in the 
western part of the town and close under the mountain. — 
The name is from the families of James and David G. Finch, 
Esqs., old residents in that vicinity and around the site of the 
village. These men live honorably in the name of the place, 
and their names will be carried down the stream of time as 
long, perhaps, as the world shall endure. 

As this family is old in the county, we propose to indulge 
in a few remarks. John Finch, the first emigrant, came 
from Horse Neck, Connecticut, and settled at Goshen, and 
the family tradition is, that he was the first grown person 
buried in the grave yard of the Goshen Church — some chil- 
dren having been previously buried there. 

We do not know the number of his children, nor whom he 

u 



402 TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. 

married. His son, James Finch, Senior, was born there, 
and married to Miss Catharine Gale by Priest Kerr. James 
removed and located on land, now covered by the site of the 
village of Middletown in the town of Walkill. At this time 
there were but three log houses besides his within a mile of 
the place. Shortly before the Revolutionary war he removed 
to the vicinity of Finchville. When Peenpack was invaded 
and burnt by the Indians under Brant, as previously stated, 
many of the women and children fled from there to his house 
for protection. Among those that fled came Mrs. Decker, 
the wife of Major Decker, leading her small children by the 
hand, and weeping as she came. She had fled from her bed, 
after retiring for the night, clad in garments which scarcely 
covered her person. The only article, besides her children, 
saved from the conflagration of her dwelling was the family 
Bible, which she carried under her arm, and in such an hour 
worth more to her than Ceesar's diadem. 

Mr. Finch, though living in the vicinity, was not in the 
battle of Minisink. The reason was, Cols. Phillips and Wis- 
ner with their troops, while on their march to Minisink, 
halted at his house to refresh themselves and procure some- 
thing to eat. At the time there were nothing but salted pro- 
visions in the house, and Finch killed a large fat hog and 
prepared it for the troops. After they had eaten, the residue 
was placed in the knapsacks of the soldiers for further use. 
Col. Phillips directed that Finch should not go with them, 
but stay at home and make ready to feed his men when they 
should shortly return. But alas! how many of his friends 
and neighbors, who that day partook of his hospitality, never 
returned from the field of battle to share his kindness or need 
his care ! 

Mr. Finch during the Revolution performed duty as a 
three months' man, and what was called a minute man. — 
The minute men were to be ready at a moment's warning. 
When drafted, if he could not go, he hired and paid a sub- 
stitute. He also performed military duty during the old 
French and Indian war in 1755 and 1756. When quite young 
he was at Fort Stanwix in the capacity of waiter to General 
Abercrombie or some of his staff. He lived and died a pa- 
triot, and a member of the Baptist Church, having acted as 
a deacon for many years. 

James Finch, Jr., his son, of the last generation, was born 
July 25, 176S. This gentleman was well known, both at 
home and abroad. He came into public life when young, 
and held the cilice of Justice of the Peace from about 1798 



TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. 



403 



to 1830, excepting the time he acted as Judge of the county. 
In 1831 Coe Finch, his son was elected a Justice of the Peace 
in his place. He held the Supervisorship of his town for 
twelve years in succession, and served as a member in the 
State Legislature thirteen .sessions. We think he was first 
elected in 1802, and served his last term in 1832. Early in 
life he became a member of the Baptist Church, and died in 
the faith of his fathers on the 7th day of December, 1843, 
aged seventy-five years. 

He married in 1794, and had ten children, nine of whom 
lived to be twenty four years of age. We give a copy of the 
family record : 



NAMES. 




BIRTH. 


DEATH. 


James Finch, 


Father, 


July 25, 1768, 


December 7, 1843. 


Sarah, 


Mother, 


Sept. 23, 1772, 


December 1, 1843. 


Zophar, 




May 20, 1795. 




Catharine, 




May 1, 1797, 


December 30, 1843. 


Margaret, 




Sept. 10, 1799, 


February 12, 1807. 


P. G., 




Feb'ry 28, 1802. 




Coe, 




April 30, 1804, 


September 12, 1832. 


Julia, 




Nov'ber 20, 1806. 




Jesse, 




January 24, 1809, 


November 23, 1843. 


James M., 




April 11, 1811, 


February 4,1844. 


John, 




June 28, 1813, 


December 9, 1843. 


Sarah, 




August 9, 1819, 


December 2, 1843. 



Sarah, the mother, and Sarah, the youngest daughter, it 
will be seen died on the same day, and were buried in one 
grave, not separated in life or death. 

The disease of which the members of this family died was 
a bilious congestive fever ending in typhoid. P. G. Finch, 
the son of Zophar Finch, was first seized with it in September, 
1843, and did not fully recover his health till January, 1844. 
it would appear from the statement of the several cases, that 
this one formed the basis of all the rest. He was visited, 
nursed and taken care of by others of the family, and some 
one of them took the disease in return, and thus it proceeded 
till almost all the members of the family and relatives living 
at a distance— even in New Jersey — who had been in a situ- 
ation exposed in any way to its contaminating and deadly 
influence, suffered the clanger and violence of an attack. — 
The abode of this aged patriot was high and upon the most 
elevated lands of the county, swept over and daily fanned 
by the mountain winds, and without any neighboring locality 
to generate disease or pestilence : still they stalked around 
his dwelling at midnight, and entered its secret recesses at 
noonday. The affliction of this family is almost without a 



404 



TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. 



parallel in so healthy a district of country, at a season when 
no general disease prevailed throughout the land. 

We are indebted to Mr. Zophar Finch of Finchville for the 
fact3 which compose the history of this ancient family. 

Shawangunk Kill. — This stream runs from South to North 
through the central portion of the town, but furnishes no hy- 
draulic power, and is the only one worth naming. No 
town in the county, unless it be Goshen, is so destitute of 
brooks and ponds. The etymology of Shawangunk has been 
given. 



REVOLUTIONARY PLEDGE. 



Before leaving the town of Deerpark and her younger sister 
Mount Hope, we place before the reader a list of the names 
who signed it in Mamacoting. Up to and till after the war of 
the Revolution, the district of country then known as Mama- 
coting, extended from Rochester in Ulster down along the 
valley to Minisink, and included the area now covered bv 
Deerpark. While many names — such as Swartwout, De- 
pue, Cuddeback, Van Inwegen, De Witt, Gumaer, etc. — will 
be recognised as belonging to Deerpark, others on the list 
will be found belonging to the present town of Mamakating. 
We preserve the original spelling as found on the record, 
and as we cannot distinguish the names which properly be- 
long to Orange from those which may belong to Sullivan 
and Ulster, we must leave the citizens of the town to select 
their own patriot ancestors. 

From an inspection of all the returns made by the Com 
mittees of Safety throughout the colonies in 1775, we pro- 
nounce old Mamacoting the banner town for Revolutionary 
patriotism ; for the President of the Committee, John Young, 
returned to Congress that the pledge was "unanimously 
signed by all the freeholders and inhabitants off the precinct, 
June 26, 1775," which was not the fact in any other instance. 



John Young, 

Philip Swartwout, Esq. 

Benjamin Depue, 

Capt. John Crage, 

Wm. Haxton, 
, John McKinstry, 
^ Benj. Cuddeback, jr. 

Robert Cook, 

Harm. Van Inwegen, 

T. K. Westbrook, 

William Rose, 



Samuel Depue, v. 
William Johnston, 
James Williams, 
Chas. Gillets, 
Johan. Stufflebane, 
Johan. Stufflebane, jr. 
James Blizard, 
Thomas Combs, 
Jame's McCivers, 
I Joseph Hubbard, 
\Jonn Thompson, 



Ebenezer Halcomb, 
G. Van Inwegen. 
Wm. Cuddeback,- 
Abr. Cuddeback, - 
Eliphalet Stevens, 
Elisha Travis, 
Aldert Rosa, 
Adam Rivenburgb. 
Eli Strickland, 
David Giliaspy, 
Stephen Lamey, 



TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. 



405 



Capt. J. R. De Witt, 
Abm. Cuddeback, jr., 
Samuel King, 
Abna Skinner, 
Fred. JBenaer, 
Valentine Wheeler, 
Thomas Kytte, 
Jonathan Brooks, 
John VVallis, 
Joseph Drake, 
Eebenezer Parks, 
Jacobus Swartwout, — • 
Gerardus Swartwout, (-t 
Phil. Swartwout, jr., 
Isaac Van Twill, 
Joseph Westfork, 
Petrus Gumore, 
J. De Witt Gumore, 
Daniel Van Fleet, jr., 
Ezekiel Gumore, 
Jacob Van Inaway, 
Cornel. Van Inaway, 
Moses Depue.jr. ■* 
Jacobus Cuddeback, 
Rufus Stanton, 
Reuben Babbett, 
Jonathan Weeeler, 
Asa Kimball, 
Robert Milliken, 
Thomas Lake, 
Zeh. Holcomb, 
John Williams, 
Matthew Neely, 



Samuel Dealy, 
Wm. Smith, 
John Harding, 
Nathan Cook, 
Jep. Fuller, 
Eph. Thomas, 
Hendry Elsworth, 
Joseph Thomos, 
Abr. McQuin, 
John Seybolt, 
Joseph Skinner, 
Joseph Arthur, 
David Wheeler, 
John Travis, 
John Travis, jr., 
Daniel Decker, 
-Petrus Cuddeback, 
Elias Gumore, -* 
John Brooks, 
Elisha Barber, 
Jonathan Davis, 
Robert Comfort, 
David Dayly, 
Gershom Simpson, 
Eph. Forgison, 
Jacob Comfort, 
Jacob Stanton, 
Moses Miller, 
Jonah Parks, 
John Gillaspy, 
Jno. Barber, 
Sam'l Patterson, 
Abraham Smedes. 



John Stry, 
Joel Addams, 
Joseph Shaw, 
George Gillaspy, 
James Cunen, 
Abraham Rosa, 
Jacob Rosa, 
Henry Newkirk, 
Peter Simpson,, 
Stephen Holcomb, 
Johannes Miller, 
Daniel Woodworth, 
Moses Roberts, 
Daniel Roberts, 
John Douglass, 
Joseph Randal, 
Nathaniel Travis, _ 
Ezekiel Travis, 
Joseph Travis, 
Thos. Gillaspy, 
Jeremiah Shaver, 
Joseph Ogden, 
Daniel Walling, 
Daniel Walling, jr. 
Elias Miller, 
Isaac Rosa, 
Abr. Smith, 
George G. Denniston, 
Matthew Terwilliger, 
Leonard Hefinessey, 
Jonathan Strickland, 
Johannes Wash, 



Correction. — Jn our statement of the number of forts or- 
dered to be erected in Deerpark by the Committee of Safety 
in 1778, in what was called the "Upper Neighborhood," and 
in saying that there were none in the "Lower Neighbor- 
hood," we were in error in both particulars. The statement 
ought to have been, that in addition to the three enumerated 
there was one at the house of Major John Decker, and one 
at the house of Daniel Van Auken, some of which were in 
the " Lower Neighborhood." Vide pages 385r6. 



TOWN OF MINISINK. 



This is an old, large, populous town, and principally 
covered by the Wawayanda Patent, the citizens of which 
are principally engaged in agriculture. Improvement in 
this respect, within the last fifteen or twenty years, is really 
astonishing, and it argues great industry and thrift. This 
town produces and sends to market a greater quantity of the 
far-famed Goshen butter than any other in the county. — 
There is no mountain elevation except Shawangunk moun- 
tain, which divides it from Deerpark on the West, within its 
limits, and no hill of magnitude but Jogee. Sjjll the surface 
of the town is highly diversified, and the soil of every quality. 
The Northern, Eastern and Southern portions contain the 
best land ; the West is more broken by hills, while the 
whole is graceful and undulating. Till within a few years 
past there was an opinion prevalent in the county that Old 
Minisink was a hard, broken and mountainous district of 
country, and comparatively worthless and we were of the 
same opinion. But having had occasion to pass through it a 
short time since, and an opportunity to inspect the lands and 
mode of cultivation, we were most happily undeceived, and 
corrected in our false and erroneous opinion. 

It is a common case for the farmers to keep from twenty 
to thirty cows, while they raise every variety of other agri- 
cultural products. Indeed, we were told of one citizen, Mr. 
Joshua Mullock, who kept altogether on two or three farms 
about one hundred milch cows. The product of the cows 
alone of this town when converted into dollars from year to 
year, must in a brief period ensure large and permanent 
wealth to their owners, and consequently we find it in process 
of realization even now. Much of the true and taxable 
wealth of a town lies in its villages, and we are gratified 
to state that they are numerous in Minisink, and though 
not large, many of them are prettily and conveniently 
located for town accommodation. Every village is a con- 
sumer of the products of the earth, and consequently creates 
a market of greater or less extent for miles around it. This is 



TOWN OF MINISINK. 407 

what the producer wants : he has the articles to vend, and a 
home market is surer and more profitable than a distant one, 
whether it be in this or another country. 

The Eastern portion of the town is skirted by the Drowned 
Lands, many hundred acres of which are within its limits. 
Her streams are neither large nor numerous, and furnish but 
little hydraulic power. The Walkill lies too low for milling- 
purposes until it reaches the Northern part of the town. The 
general inclination of the surface of the land is to the South- 
east, and as a consequence we find all the other streams, ex- 
cept the Shawangunk kill and Pochuck creek, to run in that 
direction towards the valley and unite with the Walkill. The 
only water power of any extent is furnished by the outlet of 
the two large ponds in the North part of the town near the 
Walkill line, and called Wawayanda. Though the creek is 
small, it is controllable and turned to all possible advantage. 
The mill sites are too valuable for saw mills', of which there 
are but a limited number, except connected with a gristmill. 
As before remarked, the Shawangunk mountain divides 
this town from Deerpark, on the West, side of which runs the 
Neversink River to the South, while the Shawangunk kill 
on the East runs to the North, and both pretty close under the 
base of the mountain. The solution of this physical fact is, 
one flows along a higher level than the other. In this case 
theNeversink is the highest. This fact is occasionally seen all 
over the world : the Hudson and Walkill furnish one example. 
The Walkill is the highest, and when it has run out its level, 
empties in the Hudson. The Volga in Europe and Obe in 
Asia is another notable example on a large scale. They run 
in opposite directions for hundreds of miles along the base of 
the Ural mountains. The whole of Northern Asia slopes 
more to the North than Northern Europe; consequently the 
Obe runs to the North and the Volga to the South. A good 
geographer by knowing the general make of the land, its 
elevation, mountains and vallies, can tell upon physical 
principles the origin and directions of its rivers and lesser 
streams. The principal facts in every department of know- 
ledge are solved and accounted for by the necessary action 
of a few general principles, which are convenient, and often- 
times very essential for every gentleman to know and be fa- 
miliar with. A knowledge of general principles is worth 
more than a knowledge of mere facts, for the latter are within 
the control of the former. 

Minisink. — This name is a corruption of the Indian word 
Minsies. The tradition of the Indians in this vicinity, at the 



408 TOWN OF MINISINK. 

early settlement of the county was, that their nation lived at 
Kittanny (now called Blue Mountains) in Warren county, 
New Jersey, and means " main or chief town." — That at an 
early period there was a difficuly or disagreement of some 
kind in the nation, and the discontented portion removed to 
the other or North side of the mountain, upon the low lands 
along the Delaware. The tradition also was, that, long ago, 
and before the Delaware River broke through the mountain 
at the water gap, these lands for thirty or forty miles along 
it were covered by a lake, but became drained by the break- 
ing down of that part of the dam which confined it. When 
the discontented retired from the nation they settled upon 
the lands from which the waters had retired, and by others 
were called the " Minsies," because they lived upon the land 
from which the water had gone. The name in the first in- 
stance was descriptive of the land from which " the water is 
gone," and afterwards was applied to the Indians who lived 
upon it. We have no doubt but this is the true etymology 
of Minisink. We have not particularly examined the make 
and general appearance of the lands or particular localities 
in this town with a view of forming an opinion of the proba- 
ble truth of the traditionary fact, whether it was once a lake 
and covered by water ; yet we have been told by very sensi- 
ble and well informed citizens of the town, that there is a great 
many physical evidences of the truth of such an hypothesis. 
In an old survey of the Van Campen patent in New Jersey, 
made in 1718, Kittanny or Blue Mountains is called by the 
name of " Pohoqualin," which signifies " the termination 
of two mountains with a stream between them," as at the 
water gap. The name is certainly very descriptive of the 
mountain at that locality. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT. 

On this article we refer the reader to the letter of Samuel 
Preston, Esq., found at page 49, from whicli it appears that 
from thirty to forty miles along both sides of the Delaware 
were settled before New York, Pennsylvania or New Jersey 
knew anything about it, and only found it out in about 1729. 
That at that time there were no inhabitants in Bucks and 
Northampton counties in Pennsylvania, yet the settlers there 
had a grove of apple trees larger than any near Philadelphia, 
and had been there so long that some could only be under- 
stood in Indian. That the settlors were miners from Holland, 
who dug ore at a minehole somewhere in New Jersey, near 



TOWN OF MINISINK. 409 

Paaquarry flats, and also at a place about halfway to Esopus, 
which latter no doubt was at the present lead mine in Marn- 
akating in Sullivan county. That they built or assisted to 
build the o'd mine road leading - from Minisink to Esopus, 
through Mamakating Hollow, and that when the colony of 
New York was surrendered by the government of Holland to 
the English in 1664, the settlement was at least partially 
broken up and the mining business closed. We cannot say 
that this settlement was within the present, limits of this 
town, though a portion of it may have been. At this day par- 
ticular old localities which come down to us by vague and 
uncertain. descripi ions cannot be distinctly pointed out. 

General Assembly, Die Sabbati. — May 11, 1734. — The petition of 
Jacobus Swartwonds, (probably Siyartwout,) William Proovost, William 
Coel, and others, the freeholders and inhabitants residing and living in Min- 
isink, in the county of Orange, and part of Ulster county, was piesented to 
the house, &c, setting forth that several persons in West Jersey and Penn- 
sylvania having no other way to transport their produce than through the 
Minisink road, and that there was but about 40 miles more to repair before 
they came to Esopus, &c, and that they be compelled to work on 
road and assist in repairing it to the house of Ebberl Devvitt, in the town of 
Rochester, in the county of Ulster. 

" Resolved, That leave be given to bring in a bill according to the prayer 
of the petition." 

This was the old mine or Esopus road made by the He 
landers previously mentioned, and is the same now travelled 
upon through the Hollow. 

To a certain extent, but how far we do not know, the early 
settlement of Deerpark extensively spread before the reai 
must be considered a portion of the History of this town, es- 
pecially all that part of it which relates to the controversies 
between the settlers on the Minisink and Waway;tnda patents 
with -the people in New Jersey about the possession of the 
lands along the disputed line, which we thought best to give 
in one town and not to divide it. The names of the individu 
als who were at that time in the town and nobly defended their 
possessions, and the places upon which they settled have not 
come down to us in such a manner as to be relied on, and 
therefore they cannot be stated with the accuracy desired. — 
The settlement however must have been very early, and to 
some extent before 1700, for settlements were made by in- 
habitants of New Jersey north of that, and com plaints against 
them brought before the colonial assembly for their direction 
as early as that period. 

In our account of that border warfare we endeavored to 



410 TOWN OF MINISINK. 

make a concise and plain statement thereof, and give the read- 
er the benefit of all that had been done by authority relating 
to it : but to supply a deficiency there made we remark that 
in 1755 a bill was passed "to impower certain trustees to dis- 
pose of any quantity of unappropriated lands within the pat- 
ents of Minisink and Wawayanda to raise a sum not exceed- 
ing ,£1000 on each, to defend the title and possessions of the 
proprietors of the patents against the encroachments of the 
people of East New Jersey, and to defray the expense already 
accrued thereon." We do not know that we can add any 
other fact by way of illustration, and shall consider the his- 
tory of that warfare closed. . While old Minisink, perhaps in 
an historical point of view, is as much entitled to the honor of 
it as ancient Deerpark ; we still are inclined from our know- 
ledge of the matter to divide the honor about equally between 
them. 

Independent of that early location which in all probability 
was a mere thread of scattered population along the southern 
portion of the now town of Minisink, and did not aid much 
the subsequent settlement of the town, we remark that the 
true settlement commenced at the north and gradually dif- 
fused itself from year to year further and further south till the 
whole land became sparsely populated. This was chiefly 
effected by the residents of the eastern portion of the old town 
<A Goshen and from about the village with some from Wal- 
kill and other places. This population of course was of Eng- 
lish origin, and had already passed one stage of settlement on 
Long Island and another in Goshen, and now began in the 
persons of their descendents to roll a feeble wave over the 
beautiful and undulating surface of this town. 

We cannot be very particular in our remarks on this head, 
and must content ourselves with pointing to a few persons 
and localities only, leaving the aged and intelligent reader 
to supply the omission from his own knowledge and local 
tradition. 

Denton — In old times this locality was called "the outlet." 
ft lias its present name from Mr. Henry W. Denton, an old 
resident of the place, now about 79 years of age, and who 
has been in many ways instrumental in building up and 
otherwise benefitting the place. 

Down till some ten years since the moral character of the 
place was not of the purest or most desirable character, and a 
censorious person might say it was profligate. The Sabbath 
was little regarded and treated as a secular day, and spent in 
fishing, hunting, drinking, &c. It was concluded that the 



TOWN OF MINISINK. 411 

erection of a Church and stated preaching might have their 
legitimate effect upon the population of the place and its vicin- 
ity, by gathering them into the Church at least occasionally, 
and in the end wean them from vicious habits to a general 
observance of the duties and proprieties of life, becoming a 
civilized community. The object was effected and Denton 
Church is the living evidence of this virtuous and noble re- 
formation. The congregation was small and the preacher 
divided his time between it and Ridgeberry. The village is 
pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Walkill, and ap- 
pears fresh and growing. The bank of the river is high with 
a good prospect in all directions. 

Denton Familv. — We enter upon a little detail in honor of 
the old and virtuous "Pilgrims." Rev. Richard Denton, the 
ancestor of all of the name here and on Long Island, was 
born in Yorkshire, England, in 1586, graduated at Cam- 
bridge 1623, and settled as minister of Coley Chapel, in Hal- 
ifax, England ; but in consequence of the restrictions placed 
upon the independants and non-conformants, emigrated to 
Boston with Governor Winthrop in 1630. He preached in 
Watertown, Massachusetts, and subsequently at Weathers- 
field and Stamford, Connecticut. In 1644 he emigrated with a 
portion of his congregation and commenced the settlement of 
Hempstead, Long Island, returned to England and died in 
1662, aged 76 years. 

His sons were jRichard, Samuel, Daniel, Nathaniel and 
John. Nathaniel and Daniel removed to Jamaica in 1656, 
and were instrumental in settling the place. Daniel in 1670 
published the first history of the colony of New York. John 
removed to Orange county, and is the immediate ancestor of 
those of that name here, 

James, a son of one of the brothers, had four sons — Amos, 
John, William and Thomas. William and John settled in 
Orange county, but William returned to Long Island, near 
Beaver Pond, and died there. John located on the old Car- 
penter farm in the village of Goshen. He had three wives 
and fourteen children. His first wife was Jane Fisher of 
Long Island ; the second, Elizabeth Wisner, daughter of 
Henry Wisner Esq., the ancestor of Henry B. and Henry G. 
Wisner, Esqs. ; the third, Mary Gale, daughter ofHezekiah 
Gale, who lived near what is now called Lagrange. 

One of the daughters of Thomas married Jason Wilkin 
who resided at the place last named. Catharine, a daughtei 
of Samuel of Long Island, married Jacob Mills, Esq. of Wal- 
kill, and had twelve children ; one of whom, William Wick- 



412 TOWN OF MINISINK. 

ham Mills, married the only daughter of Wickham Denton 
of Long Island, and is the wealthiest man probably in Suf- 
folk county. 

Mr. Richard Carpenter was an early settler at this lo- 
cation and owned one hundred acres, now owned by Thad- 
deus B. and Henry W. Denton. Carpenter lived in a log 
cabin on the hill, made potash, and farmed it a little. After 
him the farm was owned by Elisha Eldridge from New 
England, who was the first man who kept, a store and set up 
a tavern at the place. This was abont the commencement 
of the Revolution. 

Dolsantown. — This is some two miles west of Denton. — 
Before the French and Indian war in 1756, an individual by 
the name of Isaac Dolsan came from Fishkill, Dutchess 
county and settled there. He purchased 700 acres which is 
now owned by Theophilus Dolsan, James Post, James Ald- 
ridge and Mr. Swezey. Dolsan was a millwright, and married 
Polly Huzzy of an English family in New Jersey, and died 
in 1795. 

His children were James and Isaac ; James married Phoebe 
Meeker. Their children were James, A*a, Samuel, Polly 
and Abby — all of whom are dead but Samuel, who is eighty- 
two years of age. Isaac never married. This family is 
Dutch and very old in the State. There is a family tradition 
that the first male child born in New Amsterdam (New 
York) was a Dolsan. 

On the farm of Asa. Dolsan, the grandfather of Samuel, 
re was a block house erected as a protection against the 
Indians in the French war of 1756. Dolsan lived first in a 
log bouse, loop-holed for musquetry, and afterwards and 
before the war, built a stone house, into which the inhabit- 
ants used to flee for safety as well as into the block house. 

Daniel Coolev settled on one hundred acres adjoining 
Isaac Dolsan at about the same time Dolsan located. This 
is now owned by Mr. Nathaniel Evertson. 

David Cooley also located on two hundred acres in the 
vicinity about the same time. This is owned at present by 
James Post. 

During the French war the Indians came and killed a 
man in Dolsan's meadow, by the name of Owens, and he 
then removed to Goshen where he staid till the war was over. 
The Indians did not come in great numbers to this settle- 
ment, but only a few at a time, who secreted themselves in 
the woods of the neighborhood, and as opportunity served 
sallied out to rob and to murder. On one occasion three of 



TOWN OF MINISINK. 413 

them chased a man who ran and crept under the weeds and 
brush at the root of a tree which had been blown down ; the 
Indians came, stood upon the tree, looked all around, yelling 
most savagely, but fortunately did not find him, and they left. 
In old times it was customary to build ovens to bake in, in 
the vicinity of the house, and at the time we speak of a wo- 
man in the family of Mr. Cooley was engaged in baking, 
when some Indians passing at the time shot her while going 
from the oven to the house. 

On the farm of Mr. Samuel Dolsan there was an Indian 

settlement in the meadow near his present residence, and 

their burying ground was on the dry land in the vicinity. 

The. graves were shallow : a plough passing over them 

would (ear up their bones. At the settlement of the place, 

] the Indians had an apple orchard, one of the trees of which 

1 is still standing in this meadow and bears a large sour apple. 

During this old war the Indians did not dare to go out as 

; far as Goshen, but occasionally crossed the kill, and on one 

, occasion went over, and killed a Mr. Webb on a Sunday 

! morning. They boasted much of having killed the " big 

' man ' ; of the town of Goshen. 

Isaac Finch located 100 acres in this vicinity. Mohagan 
I creek ran through it and he built the first flour and sawmill 
; that were erected at the settlement. William Little now 
i owns the land. Corwin's Factory is on this stream, and it 
j enters the Walkill below George Phillips's. 

Grahammlk. — There is no village at this place, but the 
location is quite densely settled. Just before the revolution 
[ about 1773 Gilbert Walsworth located a tract of land in this 
vicinity when there was not a log house from Shawangunk 
mountain to Dolsantown. Abraham Harden, Richard Jones 
and Henry Devoe, were also early settlers. Harden married 
a Dolsan. The Grahams, from whom the place takes it name, 
came in afterwards. The family is Irish, and the individuals 
of the name residing there, industrious men and capital far- 
mers. ••• 

Stephen W. Fullerton. — This gentleman is the son of 
William Fullerton and Mary Whittaker. The father of 
William was William, who was the first settler of the name in 
the town. He came from Dublin, Ireland, and died in 1786. 
He married Sarah Cooley and their children were 

William, born March 3, 1765; Daniel, born March 21, 1767; 
Samuel, do June 2, 1769; Phineas, do July 5, 1771; 
Sarah, do April ll, 1773 ; Jane, do Dec'br 23, 1775. 



414 TOWN OF MINISINK. 

William Fullerton, jim., died Feb. 21, 1817, aged 51 years. 
His children were William, Daniel, Stephen W. and 
Elizabeth. 

Stephen W. Fullerton married Esther Stephens, daughter 
of Holloway Stephens. Their children are Daniel, Elizabeth, 
William, Mary, Holloway S., Stephen W., Peter P., Ben- 
jamin S., John H., Elsay T., Esther I. and Francis E. 

We were informed by Mrs. Stephen W. Fullerton from 
whom we procured these notes, that she was of opinion ten 
dollars would cover the amount expended for medicine in 
raising their twelve children, the youngest of which is now 
nine years old. The family stock must have had robust and 
firm constitutions, uninjured by disease and medicine. We 
have no doubt, that one of the best and wisest methods to 
injure children and impair their general vigor of constitution 
is to dose them with medicine on every occasion when their 
parents think them not very well. Children may be killed 
as well by excessive kindness as by downright cruelty, and 
it is a misfortune frequently to have a Physician too near our 
residences. The administration of a sensible mother in all the 
little ailments to which children are subject, not unfrequent- 
ly check and cure disease as surely, and more safely than the 
contents of the shops. Attention, care, nursing, are the great 
curatives with children. Permit nature to operate and do 
her part and little medicine is absolutely needed for them. 

Mary Whittaker, the wife of William Fullerton, jun., as 
previously remarked, was born April 20, 1766, and died two 
or three years since at an advanced age. She was the daugh- 
ter of Be-nja-min- Whittaker who lived on the farm now own- 
ed by Roswell Mead, Esq. He removed to Susquehanna two 
or three years before Wyoming was taken by the Indians in 
1778. At that time Mary was about twelve years old. Before 
ihe attack, the settlers went into the fort which had been 
erected there. The occupants could not hold it against the 
assault, and agreed to surrender under the promise of being 
.protected and saved. No sooner had the Indians entered 
than they commenced a general massacre and very few es- 
caped. Mary and her father were in the fort and both were 
saved. Brant took her by the hair of the head and held her 
up by one hand and painted her face with red paint, with the 
other, and then let her go telling her "that was the mark of 
safety." 

When the fort was surrendered the Indians flocked in, the 
settlers laid down their arms and the women and children 
fled and huddled themselves into one corner in expectation 



TOWN OF MINISINK, 415 

of instant death. John Finch, a little boy, the son of John 
Finch, of stouter heart than some others, laughed at the odd 
and grotesque appearance of the Indians, and one raised his 
tomahawk to strike him down. Brant saw the motion of the 
Indian, seized and ordered him not to injure the boy. 

Mr. Whittaker returned back to Minisink and settled on 
the farm afterwards owned by Abraham Bennett, but after 
peace was established removed and located at the Cookhouse, 
on the Delaware. Mary in the mean time married Mr. Ful- 
lerton and remained in the town. 

It would seem that some escaped the Indian massacre at 
Wyoming - to encounter the same danger from the same quar- 
ter at Minisink the ensuing year. When the Indians invad- 
ed Minisink in 1779 under Brant they scowred the settle- 
ment, distroyed all the property of a movable character, burnt 
the houses and murdered all who come in their way. Among 
others they visited the premises of Mr. Whittaker and the 
inmates fled elsewhere for safety. Mary hid herself in an 
old potatoe hole in which there was some straw covered with 
boards. The Indians searching around came and stood on 
the boards and so near her that she could have touched their 
feet with her hand, but they did not suspect her or any one 
to be hid there, they left and she escaped. We are told that 
Mary at all times in after life entertained the most cordial 
hatred for the Indians, and could not, down to her death, 
converse about them without being greatly excited. We do 
not wonder at this : she saw what they achieved at Wy- 
oming and Minisink, and the horrid spectacleswere deeply en- 
graven upon her young and sensitive mind, so that no lapse 
of time could efface them. We should wonder if she had 
felt otherwise towards (hem. 

Ridgeberry. — This village is pleasantly situated upon a 
long low ridge running North and South, which was noted 
for the number and variety of the berries which grew on it ; 
and at the erection of the Presbyterian church it received the 
name of Ridgeberry, in allusion to the facts above stated. — 
The village as it grew up took its name from that of the 
church. Benjamin Dunning came to this place in 1809 from 
Walkill where he was born. He is the son of John Dunning, 
and the grandson of Jacob, one of the first settlers in the 
town of Goshen, in west division. The family is English. 
Some of the early settlers at, and near this locality were 
Benjamin Howell, James Hulse, John Dunken, Benjamin 
Smith, Isaac Decker, Jonathan Bailey, Richard Hulse, John 
Hallock, Sen., Nathaniel Bailey, Israel Hallock, Moses 



416 TOWN OF MINISINK. 

Overton, Noyes Wickharn, Richard Ellison arid Charles 
Durling. John Dunken was killed at the battle of Minisink. 

Up to 1800 the population was sparse and improved spots 
few and far between. The present plot of the village was 
owned by Benjamin Dunning, Jonathan Bailey, Benjamin 
Howell, Isaac Decker and others. 

John Hallock, Sen. — This individual came from England 
to Mattatuck, on the east end of Long Island, at an early 
period. The family tradition is that two emigrant ships 
came over at the same time and the passengers located on 
the Island — that the settlers staid but a short time, being 
driven off by the Indians — that they left and a majority of 
them returned to England — that in a short time they came 
back to the Island and located the second time. The names 
of some of the families were Hallock, Wells, Case and Hor- 
ton. During the war of the Revolution John Hallock, Sen. 
removed from the Island to Oxford in this county, and during 
its continuance performed various services in guarding the 
passes in the Highlands. Before leaving the Island he per- 
formed military service there, and left, when taken possession 
of by the English. His brother Daniel acted as his substitu 1 ' 
at Fort Montgomery when taken in 1777 and escaped. In 
1783 he purchased two hundred acres of John Scott, south of 
the village, a part of which is still in the possession of his 
descendents — the land extended west and Brook field is situ- 
ated on the purchase. He gave the lot on which the Baptist 
Church stands in that village. When he was building 
log cabin he fell short of nails, and in order to raise fund;; 
traded off a good new hat for one of less value, and with the 
difference purchased the nails to finish the building. 

John Hallock, Jun. — This gentleman inherited his pa- 
ternal estate, and was an active patron of the village for 
many years. Mr. Hallock was pleasant and agreeable in 
his manners, lively and social; with a good share of ready 
off-hand talent which made him a very useful man in his 
town. This brought, him into public notice, and being of 
the dominant party in town, county and state, he had a con- 
trolling influence in the politics of the county. His town 
was strong and held the balance of power, and " As Minisink 
went so went the county." Offices of every grade, from 
that of a Justice of the Peace, through, a Judgeship to a 
member in Congress were in turn held by him, in all of 
which he acted his part with fidelity and great purity of mo- 
tive. We never heard that his conduct in that respect was 
questioned at any time, and he deserves to be well and long 



TOWN OF MINISINK. " 417 

remembered by his native town. He possessed great good 
humor and a pleasant vein of wit. which would occasionally 
flash and gleam out in spite of all exertions to restrain it. 

Daniel Dunning, a great grandson of Michael Dunning 
of Goshen, shortly after the Revolution removed, when young, 
with his stepfather, to this town. His uncle Benjamin Dun- 
ning was killed at the battle of Minisink, being shot while 
crossing the Delaware at the close of the battle. 

We should like to be mote particular, but the necessity 
imposed on us to curtail our paper to a given number of 
pages forbids it. 

CentrevUle. — A small village in the centre of the town 
from east to west, and hence its name, with the addition of 
the Latin Villa, a village. It is called Racine from Mr. John 
Racine, who resides there, keeps store, and has a grist, saw, 
plaster and clover mill, turning lathe, etc. It is on the 
Wawayanda creek or outlet, of the two ponds in the north 
part of the town. The place was also formerly called Weils' 
Corner. 

Slate Hill is a small collection of houses pleasantly situated 
on a slate ridge, and surrounded by a beautiful agricultural 
district. It was formerly called Brookfield, from the fact that 
Mud brook gracefully wound round the base of the hill. A 
farmer frequently names his fields from local or physical cir- 
cumstances — such as Hill field, Bush field, Stone field, etc. 

Westtoum. — This is an old place, and was at the lime the 
most westerly village in the town, and is situate at the 
junction of Rutger's creek with the outlet of two ponds. 

Minisink Village is a small settlement in the extreme 
westerly part of the town, at the foot ofShawangunk moun- 
tain. It is of recent origin and named after the town. 

Unionville. — This is two and a half miles west, of Westtown, 
on the east side of Rutger's Creek. The tradition is that on 
the disputed territory, an account of which we have given, 
a few houses had been erected before the question of owner- 
ship was settled, and that afterwards, to commemorate the 
friendly adjustment of that vexed point, the locality was 
named Unionville. 

Bushville is in the west part of the town — a small cluster 
of houses, principally owned by Jonathan Wood, Esq. and ' 
is of recent origin. The village began its growth while the 
land in the vicinity was still covered with bushes, and hence 
the name. 

Rutger's Place. — This is the residence of Dr. Cash, and is 
in the central part of the town. The name is an English 

37 1A 



UN TOWN OF MINTSINK. 

corruption of Rutkys, the Indian name of a small stream on 
the bank of which Rutger's Place is situate. The Doctor, 
to preserve the Indian name, bestowed it upon his residence. 
The streams of this town are generally small and not nu- 
merous. Besides the Walkill, there is Rulky's creek, Ban- 
degot, Shawangunk kill, Wawayanda, and a few others. 

There are two ponds in the north part of the town which 
inn into each other and form Wawayanda creek, which in 
its course to the Walkill furnishes all, or nearly all, the hy- 
draulic power in the town. 

Jogee Hill. — This elevation is in the vicinity of the resi- 
dence of Mr. Stephen W. Fullerton. The hill in some parts is 
quite steep, but not rocky, and is susceptible of cultivation. — 
The base and the lands around it are light and sandy, and 
the locality bears evidence of having been covered by water 
at an r-arly day, as pieviously intimated. A tribe of Indians 
resided south of and in the vicinity of this hill. Since tin se 
lands have been cultivated, abundance of Indian arrowheads 
have been found. At the early settlement small images of 
various kinds were also found at this locality. Within a lew 
days, a field south of and adjoining the hill was ploughed up. 
and many arrowheads were found ; and what is remarkable, 
the Indians must have manufactured them there, as some 
were found partly finished, and the Hakes or chips shivered 
off in the operation were also found. The Hint out of which 
the heads were made is not found in this town, nor at any 
locality in the state, as far as we know. Indeed, we are not 
informed where this flint is found in any large or small 
masses. The instrument with which the heads were made is 
conjectural. Stone would not answer the purpose, and they 
had no iron, and we are forced to conjecture that they used 
flint, to manufacture articles out of flint. 

After this tribe had broken up and had left the town, two 
Indians, the last of the race as it were, in this locality, re- 
mained. One lived at the hill just mentioned, and one upon 
the west bank of the Walkill, several miles distant. Shortly 
before the war of the Revolution, some Indians visited them 
from a distance, and when they returned the two solitary 
Indians left with them. These were the two last residents 
seen in the town. In remembrance of the one whose wig- 
wam was at the hill, the citizens, to perpetuate the name of 
its last native occupant, called it Jogee, after the name of the 
Indian. 

We have seen an Indian iron tomahawk, either found or 
obtained from an Indian in this locality, which was presented 



TOWN OF MINISINK. 



419 



to the Historical Assocation of Newburgh by Mrs. Stephen 
F. Fullerton — the whole of which is a pipe, the pole being 
the bowl of the pipe, and the smoke was drawn through 
a hole in the handle. 



AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 



1820. Peter Hulbert, 
Wilmot Moore, 
Asa Dolsan, 

1821. Charles Durland, 
Wilmot Moore, 

do do 
do do 
Nathan Hulse, 

1822. Nathan Hulse, 
Benjamin Dunniug, 
Charles Dunning, 
Wilmot Moore, 

1823. James Hulse, 

do do 
Asa Dolsan, 
Henry W. Denton, 

do do 

Nathan Hulse, 



Second best Flax, 

Bebt Calf, 

Best Bull, 

Greatest quantity of flax, one acre, 

Best Bull, 

Best Calf, 

Second best Calf, 

Best piece of Linen, 

Bestiarm in the town, 

Second best Potatoes, 

Best Flax, 

Best Bull, 

Best Four Calves, 

Best two year old Heifers, 

Second best Heifers, 

Third do do 

Second best piece of Dressed Cloth, 

Best improved Farm, 



$5 


00 


5 


00 


15 


00 


10 


00 


15 


00 


5 


00 


3 


00 


6 


00 


10 


00 


4 


00 


10 


00 


10 


00 


6 


00 


4 


00 


3 


00 


o 


00 


5 


00 


25 


00 



Mortality. — Many will recollect that during the summer 
of 1825 the dysentary was very prevalent in Minisink and 
vicinity ; but few families escaped this distressing malady, 
and but few who were not called upon to weep over friends 
who had fallen victims to that fatal disease. Among the 
aifilcting dispensations, we recollect none more distressing 
than the mortality in the family of Hulet Clark. The deaths 
in sixteen days were : 



Samuel J.', Clark, 


aged 


7 years, 


August 17, 


1825. 


James M. Clark, 




3 do 


do 18, 


do. 


Bertha Clark, 




9 do 


do 20, 


do. 


Alfred Clark, 




10 do 


do 22, 


do. 


Henry Clark, 




5 do 


do 24, 


do. 


Mary Clark, 




33 do 


Sept'ber 2, 


do. 



Duncan Hulse-— On Thursday the 15th of March, 1827, Mr. Duncan 
Hulse of the town of Minisink, and his nephew Milton Howell, a young 
man of twenty years of age, left home in order to spend a day or two in 
their favorite diversion of hunting and shooting game. Not returning as 
soon as was expected, their friends became alarmed for their safety, and 
went in search of them. Day after day passed with increased anxiety and 
fearful apprenensions (knowing that Mr. Hulse had a considerable sum of 
money with him) until Wednesday, when they were both found dead. Mr. 
Hulse was lying' on his face, stretched out in a canoe, which was stuck fast 
between two bog* in the Walkill, and his money gone, but with no mark* 



420 



TOWN OF MINISINK. 



of violence about him. Afterwards the body of Mr. Howell was found ly- 
ing in a similar posture on the bottom of the kill — the water being only 
twelve or eighteen inches deep, and the money or notes, 7 or 800 dollars 
found with them. It is thought they got belated in the kill, and found so 
much difficulty in reaching the shore in the dark — the canoe sticking fast 
in the bogs — that they both got chilled and perished with the cold. Mr 
Howell probably remained with the canoe until his uncle was dead — then 
taking his money and papers endeavored to reach shore by swimming or 
wading and perished in the attempt ; or perhaps the pocket book might have 
been given to Howell for safe keeping while hunting or previous to Hulse's 
death. Truly we know not what a day may bring forth. — Index. 

The persons who signed the Revolutionary Association of 
1775, which we have previously given, were : 



.'. Wfistbrook, jun., 
Wilhelmus Westfall, 
Johannes Decker, jr., 
Benjamin Cox, 
Moses Kortright, 
Jacob Quick, 
John Prys, 
Jacobus Harraken, 
Timothy Wood, 
Benjamin Wood, 
Levi Decker, 
G. Brad cock, 
Samuel Davis, 
Nicholas Slyter. 
James Carpenter, 
lleuben Jones, 
Daniel St John, 
Esee Bronson. 



Petrus Cole, 
Aldert O.-terhoudt, 
Isaac Uptegrove, 
A. Van Etten, 
Johannes Wesllrook, 
Solomon Cuykendal, 
John Bennett, 
Simon Westfall, 
Martinas Decker, 
Petrus Cuykendal, 
Isaac Davis 
Benjainin Boorman, 
Sylvester Cortright, 
George Quick, 
Nehemiah Pattison, 
Jacobus Schoonhoven, 
Jacobus Davis, 



Arthur Van Tuyle, 
Jacobus Vanfleit, jr., 
Jacobus Vanfleit, 
Wilhelmus Cole, 
s, Thomas Hart, 
Levi Van Etten, 
Petrus Decker, 
John Van Tuyle, 
Daniel Cole, 
Asa Astly, 
S. Cuykendal, jr. 
Benjamin Corsan, 
Daniel Kortright, 
Martinas Decker, jr. 
Joel Westbrook, 
Ephraim Middagh, 
A. C. Van A ken, 



We should have been pleased if w r e could have placed 
before the reader a greater number of the names of the early 
settlers, but on examining the office of the town clerk to 
make extracts from the old town records, and find who were 
in the town and in office, etc. at its organization, we were 
disappointed, as no minutes of town proceedings were found 
previous to 1826. This fact shows great negligence some- 
where, and by it the early record history of the town is lost, 
perhaps beyond the hope of recovery. We do not wish to 
censure, but really regret that it is so on our own account. 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 



This town was erected from Goshen in 1788, and took its 
name from the village of Warwick. In soil and general sur- 
face it is not unlike Minisink, except that it is not so sandy 
and is more broken by high hills and mountain elevations. 
With the exception of Mounts Adam and Eve in the western 
part of the town, the mountain elevations — such as Warwick 
mountain, Sugarloaf, are in the eastern portion, and which 
must be considered as effected by its near approach to the 
Highlands. The soil generally is among the best and most 
productive in the county, while its tillage is equal to that of 
any other. Every variety of agricultural product is raised, 
though the inclination of the farming interest is strongly 
to stock, and its product, rather than to grain, as for- 
merly ; still, the value of the various grains must be com- 
paratively large at present. The whole surface of the town 
is rolling, with hills of moderate elevation, not sharp, but 
gradually rounded off. The creeks and other streams which 
furnish any hydraulic power are not numerous. The W"al- 
kill is so low that it does not furnish any. The water power 
is wholly confined to Longhouse creek, the outlet of Wick- 
ham's pond and the Wawayanda o-r Warwick creek, We do 
not know that Quaker creek, or outlet of Thompson's pond, 
furnishes any to this town. The Wawayanda is a pleasant, 
and valuable stream, and being made up of the Longhouse 
from New Jersey and the outlet of Wickhanrs pond, is very 
durable, without which we do not know what the town could 
do. The town has no pond wholly within her present limits : 
Wickhanrs and Thompson's ponds are partly in Chester, 
Long pond partly in New Jersey, and Sterling in part or 
wholly in Monroe. Besides being durable reservoirs to 
supply milling and other purposes they are valuable for the 
fish they contain. Little attention is paid at present to sheep 
raising, for in passing through the town very recently we 
saw but a limited number of that valuable animal. That the 
growth of wool has not been well protected of late years ma) 
have had its influence. The traveller is agreeably surprised 



422 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

at finding so few poor, old and dilapidated dwellings. None 
such are to be seen except at the north and west of mounts 
Adam and Eve. Generally speaking - the farm houses and 
out buildings are suitably large and commodious, and well 
painted. This indicates thrift, wealth and industry, and 
leaves an agreeable impression on the mind of a stranger. — 
We should think there is large agricultural wealth in this 
town. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT. 

This town was principally settled by English families who 
had dme at an early day to to the country ; and having re- 
mained in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Long Island or 
elsewhere for longer or shorter periods, came to this county 
and settled a large portion of its now southern area. Some 
of the earliest were Dutch, and many of the families are of 
that descent. The most difficult portion of our paper is the 
article of early settlement, because it rests upon a minute and 
extensive knowledge of local matters which we do not claim 
to possess. Indeed to be very particular on that head, and to 
name the early settlers and describe their locations, would 
make a book of itself, and we must be contented with pointing 
to a few of them only, and request the reader to fill out our 
outline map. 

Daniel Burt. — The region of country extending from 
north of the village of Warwick to Bellvale, was among the 
earliest settled portion of the town, and while the Indians 
were still in possession of the banks of its streams and forests. 
In 1746 Daniel Burt, the father of the Hon. James Burt of 
this town, came from Connecticut and located upon the farm 
now owned by Thomas and Edward L. Welling, Esq'rs. — 
There he remained in the depths of the forest for four years, 
when his relatives came from Connecticut and after a long 
and tedious search found him burried in the wild woods. — 
They assured him he could never get along in such a new 
country, and persuaded him to return with them, which he 
did. He sold out to Thomas Welling the grand father of 
Thomas and Edward L. Welling, and moved back to Con- 
necticut. There he was not satisfied to remain, returned 
in 1760, and made an effort to re-purchase his old farm of 
Mr. Welling, but in consequence of a disagreement about the 
price of a horse, which was to be a part of the consideration, 
the bargain fell through, and Burt purchased at Bellvale, on 
Long House Creek. This was a valuable property, as it con- 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 423 

tained a fine water power upon which he erected a flour and 
saw mill. The mill was overshot, there being- 30 feet fall in 30 
rods. Extensive milling and other mechanical works hav« 
continued to be conducted there. This location his son Mr. 
James Burt exchanged for the farm on which he now lives, 
near the village of Warwick, and the one owned by the Ma- 
gees, containing 300 or 400 acres. 

On the Welling farm there was an Indian settlement call- 
ed Mistucky. They had an orchard of apple trees, some of 
which were standing till within a few years since, in a mead- 
ow. 

Hon. James Burt. — This gentleman was born atBellvale, 
Oct. 25, 1760, the youngest often children. As this individ- 
ual is still living at the age of 87 in a green old age, in the 
possession of good health, memory and physical powers, we 
are not at liberty to say much about him, and must leave that 
to the future historian. 

We may be permitted to remark, that the various and im- 
portant offices, held by him from time to time, through the 
course of a long life, are evidence of the high esteem in which 
he has been held by his intelligent fellow citizens. We be- 
lieve he has been a member of the Assembly five years, a 
member of the State Senate for twelve, and three time's an 
elector of President and Vice President. 

DuriBg the Revolutionary war Mr. Burt, though young at 
its commencement, was a very active whig, and vigilant in 
defending his neighborhood against the secret and open at- 
tacks of the tories. We relate one instance among many 
others. A man by the name of Johnston, who had been an 
English Sea Captain, lived in a stone house in the village of 
Warwick. The house then belonged to Mr. William Wis- 
ner. Johnston was a silversmith and followed that business 
at the time. Supposing him in possession of money and other 
valuable property, his house was attacked one rainy night by 
eleven tories, some of whom belonged to that vicinity. Two 
sisters and two negro boys were living with him at the time. 
The robbers broke into the house, and Johnston, while defend- 
ing himself most manfully, received a cut in the shoulder from 
a sword, which wholly disabled him. One of the negro boys 
and a Mr. Coe had been out eeling that night, and just at this 
time were returning home. As they approached the house, 
the tories saw them, and thinking the settlers were coming 
upon them, decamped, taking with them all the valuables of 
the house and among them a very valuable sword. At this 
time young Burt was a Lieut, in a military company com 



424 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

manded by Capt. M in thorn, and his brother Daniel Burt, jr. 
came over from the village to inform him of the affair, and to 
direct him to warn out his company forthwith to go in pur- 
suit of the robbers. It was dark as Erebus and rained in tor- 
rents. He started to go as far as Bellvale, and while going 
through the woods on the side of the hill in front of his house 
he heard three distinct snapping of guns. He drew up his 
musket to fire, though he saw no one ; but instantly thinking 
if he did, he might be seen by the flash of his own gun, and 
be shot down by the robbers, refrained and passed on. Hav- 
ing warned out his neighbors Joshua Carpenter, Nathaniel 
Ketcham, Daniel Jayne, Philip, Samuel and Azariah Ketch- 
am, Benjamin Whitney, and a few others, they started in 
pursuit. In the morning they found some continental troops 
down in the mountains who went with them. The compa- 
ny took down one side of the mountain and the soldiers the 
other, who came suddenly upon the robbers while together 
eating in the woods, fired upon them and killed five of the 
eleven. Here they found many of the stolen articles and 
Johnston's sword. The six fled, but one of them was shot 
through the leg, taken and put in gaol. The five continued 
to flee down towards New Jersey, holly pursued by all along 
the route, who turned out to help capture the tory robbers. 
Three of the five were killed during the chase and two only 
of the eleven thus far escaped. The two found their way to 
Hackensack and there they stole a pair of horses, were pur- 
sued again, and one was shot and killed — the other wounded. 

While young Burt was in pursuit of the robbers he told his 
company that on the night he started to warn them out, he 
heard three distinct snaps of guns in the woods near his house, 
but they laughed at him and said that he was afraid and 
imagined that the robbers were about to shoot him, and made 
themselves quite merry at, his expense. When they return- 
ed, it was thought advisable to search the woods in question, 
when to the great satisfaction of Sergeant Burt, they found at 
the place described by him, that the robbers had been there 
sitting on a log, and left there many small and invalua- 
ble articles which they had stolen from Johnston, and with 
which they did not wish to be incumbered. The guns of the 
robbers did not go off, in consequence of the priming having 
been dampened by the rain, as was supposed. 

During the war Burt served under Col. Hathorn, who com- 
manded at the battle of Minisink, and was stationed at Fish- 
kill when the war closed. On returning home the troops 
had to cross the river in an old continental scow. It wa^ 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 



425 



crowded with horses, troopers and soldiers. Before they got 
half over, she leaked so fast that they had to«bail her out with 
their hats to keep her from sinking. They had but one oar, and 
the water being quite rough, they made out to get her ashore 
at New Windsor in place of the continental dock atNewburgh. 

Extract from Family Record of Daniel Burt. 
Phebe, born July 15, 1738, married Daniel Lobdell. 



Daniel, 


do 


Oct. 20, 


1740, 


do 


Martha Bradner.- 


Martha, 


do 


April 3, 


1743, 


do 


Daniel Whitney .- 


Hannah 


do 


May 24, 


1745, 


do 


James Benjamin.. 


Ruth, 


do 


July 3, 


1747, 


do 


Edy Newbury. 


Lydia, 


do 


May 1 , 


1750, 


do 


Daniel Jayne. 


Sarah, 


do 


Dec. 15, 


1752, 


do 


Joshua Carpenter. 


Esther, 


do 


May 17, 


1755, 


do 


Benjamin Coleman 


Ann, 


do 


Jan. 27, 


1758, 


do 


Gideon Scott. 


James, 


do 


Oct. 25, 


17C0, 


do 


Abigail Coe. 



Mrs. Daniel Burt died January 10, 1810, aged 94 years. 
At her death she had 524 descendents. All the children 
above named have been dead 20 years, except James the 
youngest, who alone survives. 

The farm owned by Daniel Finch, and afterwards by Capt. 
John Jayne, situate on Long Ridge, on the road from Flori- 
da to Warwick, on the western part of the Van Horn tract, 
was located before 1762, and that road was then a public 
highway. Francis Armstrong and Joseph Bailey resided in 
that vicinity. 

When Daniel Burt returned to the county in 1760, Daniel 
Whitney came with him, married his sister and located. An 
individual by the name of David Benjamin was located upon 
the side of the mountain on the land now owned by Ja. 
Burt, Esq. 

Benjamin Burt, a young man, came info the town about 
that time and settled on the farm now owned by Belden Burt. 

John Vance was early in the town and lived near Judge 
Wheeler, on the farm now owned by John Pellon. 

Mr. David McCamley, the ancestor of those of that name, 
settled about 1760, and built the mill where James Wheeler 
now lives. 

Phillip Ketcham located about half way between Warwick 
and Bell vale, where Joel Wheeler lived and died. 

Jonathan Knap settled on the farm now owned by the Mc- 
Gee family. 

John and W T illiam Blane purchased the lands now possess- 
ed by Samuel Blane, Robert and Henry Pelton. 

Thomas De Kay was an early settler, and Maj. J. Wheel- 
er and Joel Wood own his lands. 



/ 



(/ 



426 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

We think this family must have been among the earliest 
in the town, for. Thomas De Kay was a justice of the peace 
in Orange county, and a Colonel of militia before 1754, and 
the lands he then held in possession had been located and 
tenanted 50 years previously. Vide page 374, Report of Mr. 
Nicoll in Assembly. 

Charles Beardsley lived where the old stone house is, in 
the village of Warwick, and owned the lands now covered 
by the village. 

The first settlers in the present village of Warwick were 
Daniel Burt, jun., in 1765, Francis Baiid, who built the 
stone house now standing, owned by the widow White, and 
William Wisner, who lived where the Messrs. Welling now 
keep a public inn, and owned by the Hon. Nathaniel Jones. 

We acknowledge ourselves under deep obligation to the 
Hon. James Bnrt for many of the facts in this article of our 
paper. 

We made an effort to insert the family of Jeffrey Wisner, 
Esq., of this town, in our paper, but did not procure it in time. 
The family were early settlers in this and in the town of 
Walkill, and connected by marriage with the old family of 
the Phillipses, and contributed their part in various ways to 
clear up the country and sustain her during the war of the 
Revolution. The members of this family were strong mind- 
ed, sensible and enterprising; and well calculated to settle a 
new country and infuse strength and energy into its early in- 
stitutions. In 1759 Henry Wisner, Esq., with Col. Abraham 
Herring represented the old county of Orange in the General 
Assembly, and served till after 1765. 

The residence of Jeffrey Wisner, Esq., is very elevated on 
the east side of and almost upon the crown of a long ridge 
which runs north and south, and overlooks all the eastern 
part of the town. The village of Warwick with its rolling 
glades chid in deepest verdure, and the Wawayanda grace- 
Cully sweeping her course to the south, lie directly at his feet. 
In the distance are seen the Warwick mountains encircling 
the south eastern portion of the town, and as it were, barring 
out all approach to New Jersey ; and to diversify the beauti- 
ful p/rospect, Sugarloaf mountain at the north lifts up her for- 
est crowned head and almost shakes her verdant locks. The 
lands around his ample dwelling are clean as a lawn, while 
the out houses are numerous and well painted. The spot 
looks as if it had been tenanted for ages, and has the calm 
and stately appearance of dignity and wealth. 

Armstrong Family. — The name of the first emigrant 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 427 

was William. The family is Scotch, though it came here 
like many of the early settlers, from Ireland. He had sev- 
eral children, among whom were Robert, William, John, 
Archibald, Elizabeth Borland, still living, and Polly Jack- 
son. He settled very early in this town, so that his children 
were principally grown up before the Revolution. The fam- 
ily tradition is that his wife was a descendant of Bishop Lat- 
timore. 

Robert Armstrong, his son was born 1754 and married 
Rachel Smith, born 1768; their children were : 

Julia, born August 1, 1788, and married John Roe. 

Jasper, do April 20, 1790, do Sarah Coe. 

Robert G. do July 18,1793, do Sarah A. L. Lewis. 

George W. do March 7, 1796, do Fanny Wheeler. 

Maria, do Sept. 18, 1798, not married. 

Harriet, do July 12, 1801, do John Smith. 

Calvin Sawyer. 

John C. do April 15, 1803, never married. 

Rachel, do July 15, 1805, do Pollidore Seward. 

Sally S. do Ira Brown. 

His biography is contained in the following notice of his 
death published at the time in a newspaper, of which we 
avail ourselves. It will be seen that he was one of the first 
members of Assembly from old Orange county after the Rev- 
olution, and we have been told that he did not know that he 
was running for office or was even a candidate till he went 
to the polls. People are not so ignorant of their worth and 
pretensions at this day. At the battle of Minisink he acted 
as aid to Gen. Hathorn, who commanded. 

At his residence, Florida, Orange county, state of New York, on Friday, 
May 30th, 1834, Robert Armstrong, Esq. in the 81st year of his age. He 
was a man honored and respected as extensively as he was known ; and ex- 
tensively known as a public man from the age of about 29 years. He was 
intimately connected with the Revolutionary struggle as a member of the 
Committee of Vigilance for the district in which he lived, and as taking an 
active part in some of its most difficult and trying scenes. hi the days oi 
George Clinton he held a seat as the youngest member in the Legislature of 
the State, and from that day until age rendered him desirous of retiring from 
public business, he was incessantly called upon to sustain public trusts in 
different offices, both of election and appointment. As Justice of ihe Peace, 
County Clerk and Treasurer, Member of the Assembly, Judge of the Court 
of Common Pleas, and many others; in all, he secured the confidence of all ; 
and was one of those rare men who are never even suspected of selfish or 
corrupt designs. 

But, without devoting himself to the service of God through Christ ,Iesu<. 
his other qualities would have profited not for another and eternal world. — 
For 57 years he was a member of the Presbyterian church of Florida, and 
for 53 years a Ruling Elder in the same church. Within this period of more 



428 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

than half a century, many times of trial came upon that-church ; in all of 
■which, from first to last, he stood the firm and unbending defender of the 
truth, and was the acknowledged and happy instrument often of saving that 
portion of Zion from distraction and apparent ruin. Before he left the field 
of his usefulness and toil, he had the happiness of seeing his whole family of 
eight children gathered into the church through rich grace, together with 
some of his grand-children ; and one of his sons, the Rev. Robert G. Arm- 
strong of Fishkill, an active and successful minister of the gospel; and an- 
other, an Elder in the church of Florida. When the protracted and painful 
disease, by which he was removed from the world, was about accomplishing 
its work, he seemed to view with calm and sweet confidence in God the 
change which he knew was coming so soon. His senses remained to the 
last moment of his life, and he expired in the firm hope of a blessed immor- 
tality. Shortly before he died, he biessed his children and his grand-chil- 
dren, and when his utterance entirely failed him, his hand still rested on the 
head of one of his daughter's babes. Thus, like one of the ancient patri- 
archs, he employed his last moments in leaving his blessing with the race 
that was to stand in his place alter him : and adjusting his cap and drawing 
the covering of the bed around him, he lay down and breathed out his spirit 
without a sigh or groan, and was thus gather) unto his fathers. His death 
seemed like falling into a gentle sleep. " Precious in the sight of the Lord 
the death of his saints." 

There is a family tradition that the name originally was 
l>rstowed upon a Highland Chief for his great courage and 
physical powers of body, and whose death was in this wise : 
In some battle or border fray, being- clad in armor, ho ac- 
cepted the challenge of the champion of the opposite clan to 
single combat, which had been given to any man in the cian, 
— he killed his antagonist. The next day a similar chal- 
lenge was given by another champion, and again accepted 
by him — he again killed his antagonist. The next day a 
challenge was given by another and accepted by him. After 
the combat had been hotly maintained for a short time his 
horse was observed to turn back and come up to the ranks 
with his rider dead, still sitting in the saddle. 

Scott knew well the character of the Armstrongs for cour- 
■ and patriotism; for when the chi f was about, to assemble 
his clans for some great enterprise, he siy.> 10 his summoning 
heralds in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel" — 

" Ye need not go to Liddisdale, 
For when they see the blazing bale 
Elliots and Armstrongs never rail." 

EXTRACT FROM TOWN RECORDS. 

Imkst Town Meeting. — At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of 
Warwick, held in the town of Warwick, this first Tuesday in April, t789. 
the following persons were elected and chosen for the enduing year, viz : — 

John Smith, Town Clerk. 

Jnhn Wheeler, Esq., Supervisor. 



/ 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 429 

Capt. James Post, Western District, ) 

Major Peter Bartholf, Middle do > Assessors. 

Capt. Henry Bartholf, Eastern do ) 

Major Jacobus Post, Western District, ) 

Nathaniel Minthorn, Middle do [ Commissioners of Roads. 

John Wood, Eastern do ) 

Zebulon Wheeler, ) «—«»»*-« ~r *k„ p™- 

. „ .. . S (Jverseers 01 the roor. 

James Benedict, J 

David McCamly, Western District, ) 

James Benedict, Middle do > Collectors. 

David Miller, Eastern do ) 

John Blain, jr., \ Constab]es 

David Miller, j ^ onstaDles - 

Road Masters.— John Kanaday, Timothy Clark, John Benedict, Capt. 
George Vance, Wm. Armstrong, Esq., Anthony Finn, Capt.Mackson, Major 
Jacobus Post, Joseph Wilson, Thomas Blain, Abraham Lazair, John Smith, 
Garret Post, Philip Burroughs, Calvin Bradner, Capt. Bertholf, James Han- 
nah, John Armstrong, James Miller, David Miller, Timothy Beers, Jacob 
Gable, Henry Townsend, Abel Noble, Philip Ketchein, Moses Carpenter. 
David Lobdell, Caleb Smith, Caleb Taylor, Robert Ludlow, Jacobus Chase, 
David Nanny, Ezra Sanford, Israel Owens, Abraham Dolsan, Richard John- 
son] John Sutton, Nathaniel Bailey. *-=*" 

A'rch. Armstrong, and Esq. Shepherd, West District, ) 

Maj. P. Bartholf, and James Benedict, Middle do > Fence Viewers. 

James Miller and Philip Burroughs, East do ) 

Each Road Master to be Pound Master: the Pound to be put up at the 
expense of the district. 

Resolved, That there is £100 to be raised for the benefit of the poor, and 
£20 for contingent expenses. 

1790. There was £19, Is. paid for sheep killed by dogs, out of a tax 
on dogs. 

1793. £22, 2s. do d« 

1789. Collected on dog tax £10, 13s., 9d. 

1790. do do 8, 10. 
1792. do # do 22, 0, 3. 
1795. Excise money, 39, 10, 4. 

It does not appear I hat there were any town laws passed 
for several years after organization. 

Warwick Village. — This is the largest in the town, and the 
location known by that name as early as 1720. It is plea- 
santly and romantically situated on the Warwick or Waway- 
'inda creek, which flows gracefully along its eastern suburbs, 
crossing the road just south of the village. It is in the cen- 
tre of the town and surrounded by a rich agricultural district, 
about eleven miles south of Goshen. If it is not injured by 
the New York and Erie Rail Road, from which it is distant 
some 10 or 12 miles, it must increase in wealth and popula- 
tion. 

The village gave name to the town, and those who origi- 
nally bestowed it, doubtless, were from Warwickshire, Eng- 



430 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

land. The name was from the Earls of Warwick, whose 
castles and burying' grounds are in that city, which is very 
ancient. In it is a tower, called " Ceesar's Tower,"' and it 
must have been a place of some note during the Roman Con- 
quest. In Latin it is called by the various names of Vero- 
vicum, Warvicus and Presidium. 

Amity. — A small village six miles west of Warwick, near 
the Jersey line. The name is from the French "Amitie," 
friendship. The incident which caused the adoption of the 
name we are not possessed of; but probably there had been 
some disagreement about the cognomen of the locality, or 
some other transaction, and Amity was agreed on as the 
monument of reconciliation. We have been told by some 
that it was purely fanciful, that it was originally called Poch- 
uck, because in the vicinity of a stream of that name, and 
that when the inhabitants erected their Presbyterian meeting 
house, they named it Amity, and thus changed the unplea- 
sant and harsh Indian name. In that- sense, the name com- 
memorates the cordiality and friendship with which the 
church was erected. 

Edenville. — This is a small cluster of houses just east of 
mounts Adam and Eve, three or four miles west from War- 
wick village. It was formerly called Postville, out of respect 
for Col. Jacobus Post, whose father first settled the location 
and owned the lands upon which the village stands. It was 
subsequently changed to Edenville, through the instrumen- 
tality of Doct. Youngs, who resided there. The reason for 
it, we may not be accurately informed of; but. we think Ave 
have heard that it was caused by some ill-will on his part 
towards some of the Post family, and that was the revenge. 
If any person is injured by the remark we crave pardon, we 
are in pursuit of nothing but truth and facts. This name was 
bestowed by the Doctor to express his sense of the beautiful 
and pleasant situation of the village, as it lies cradled in the 
lap of Mount Eve, and in allusion to the fruitfulness and rich 
adornment of the garden of our first parents. 

An additional association of ideas may have suggested the 
name. Mounts Adam and Eve overlook this locality, and it 
was very natural to restore them to their original habitation. 
We are told that in former times, these mountain elevations 
were alive and crawling with rattle and other snakes, and 
this fact, coupled with their number and proximity, may have 
had something to do with the first bestowment of the name 
on those elevations. The name imports praise or censure, 
according to the meaning of the party : for though it de- 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 431 

sciibesa beautiful and fruitful situation, yet there our first 
parents fell from innocency and entailed a double death upon 
all their descendents. 

New Milford. — This is three miles south west from War- 
wick village, and formerly called Jockey Hollow, a name 
very significant of some things. It is said that in old times 
when the standard of morals was not as etherial and elevated 
as now, the residents of the locality had the reputation of be- 
ing pretty sharp in the matters of selling and trading horses, 
and in driving other bargains, in which their customers con- 
sidered themselves amply and deeper bitten from time to 
time. The name was bestowed upon the place by its bleed- 
■ ing and victimized customers. We cannot object to the 
truthfulness of the appellation, for things ought to be called 
by their right names. 

As the character and pursuits of the inhabitants became 
changed in process of time, like politicians whose acts have 
been misrepresented, and feel the ill effects of standing in a 
false position, they assumed to define theirs, and changed 
Jockey Hollow for the less descriptive New Milford. The 
JVeiv was added to distinguish it from Milford in Pennsylva- 
nia. This act was truly praiseworthy, for a bad name will 
kill a place as quickly as it will slay a dog. 

We think we have read somewhere in English Etymolo- 
gy that the name of Milford originally came from the fact of 
there being a ford over a stream at or near a mill, and a vil- 
lage having grown up at the locality received the name. — 
Oxford and Wardsbridge are of this natural and accidental 
class of etymologies. This village is sitHated on the outlet 
of Double Pond, near New Jersey. 

Bellvale. — This is three miles east of Warwick village, and 
has been known by the name for many years. It is on Long- 
house creek, which at the place furnishes a line water power. 
At the location there is is a flour, saw and plaster mill, to- 
gether with a wollen manufactory. The fall is thirty feet in 
thirty rods. The spot was first located by Daniel Burt, the 
father of the Hon. James Burt, in 1760. The name is from 
the French "bell," beautiful, and "val," low ground, and 
expresses a retired, lonely and beautiful location, and this 
one is not misnamed. 

Florida. — This is a pleasant little village and of consider- 
able antiquity, situated in an open champaign part of the 
town, about six miles south of Goshen and five west of War- 
wick, on Quaker Creek, the outlet of Thompson's Pond. — 
The name is from the Latin "Floridus," covered or red with 



432 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

flowers — "Florida /Etas," the flower of age. This is a pret 
ty name, and a spot covered with flowers is a beautiful object 
to look on. 

We believe the place was known by this name before the 
war, and received it by the voice of a public meeting. On 
some occasion and when Judge William Thompson, late of 
Goshen, was a young man, there was a large meeting at the 
place, and extensive preparations were made befitting the 
occasion. Messengers were dispatched beforehand to New- 
burgh to procure eatables and drinkables, and as we have 
been informed the provision was amplet, In old times the 
early settlers were not satisfied with a quantity short of an 
abundance. In the hilarity of the festival they christened 
the place "Florida, "and drank down the pretty maiden name 
in flowing bumpers. 

Though the streams of this town are not large, yet they 
are very controlable and furnish considerable water power. 
The eastern portion approximates the Highlands and partakes 
of its physical character, and as we should expect, contains 
in part several large and beautiful ponds abounding in deli- 
cious fish. 

Longkouse Creek. — This rises in New Jersey, runs in a 
northerly direction till it unites with the outlet of Wick ham's 
Pond, a few miles east of the village of Warwick, and to- 
gether form Wawayancla or Warwick Creek. At an early 
period in the settlement of New Jersey there was a Long 
House built on the margin of this stream, which there took 
its name from the length of the house. 

Wawayanda or Warioick Creek. — This, having received 
Longhouse Creek, runs in a south westerly direction past 
Bellvale for some miles into New Jersey, till it falls into 
Pochuck Creek which it linds approaching New York in a 
north westerly direction. 

Pochuck Creek. — This, having received Warwick Creek in 
New Jersey, enters New York, and flowing north west, falls 
into the Walkill in the drowned lands. The name of this 
stream is said to be Indian and the meaning unknown. 

We make a remark on the name Wawayanda, which is 
also Indian, and said to mean "away over yonder." 

The tradition is that some of the twelve Indians who grant- 
ed the patent to John Bridges and Co. commonly called the 
Wawayanda Patent, were standing on some elevated part of 
Shawangunk mountain to the west of the tract, and being 
asked by the white men how much land they would grant 
them, one raised his hand and pointing east said, "waway- 






TOWN OF WARWICK. ' 433 

nnda," meaning "away over yonder." If this was so, the 
word is not Indian, but English words spoken in broken In- 
dian. There can be no doubt, as we have previously re- 
marked, that at that time the Indians who granted the pat- 
ent, could speak many English words from their intercourse 
with the early settlers in New Jersey, which, with the un- 
limited extent of the patent, go far to support the truth of the 
tradition. 

Quake)' Creek. — This is the outlet of Thompson's Pond, 
runs west and falls into the Walkill. It constitutes the boun- 
dary between Warwick and Goshen, and at the pond furn- 
ishes a fine water power for milling purposes, which has 
been in operation for many years. We do not know the or- 
igin of the name. 

Long Pond. — This is partly in Orange and partly in New 
Jersey, lies north and south, about nine miles long and one 
wide. It is used as a feeder to the Morris Canal and furn- 
ishes a delightful fishing ground, especially for Pickeral, for 
the lovers of the sport for many miles around it. 

Thompson's Pond. — This is in the north part of the town, 
just east of Florida. The north half of the pond is in the 
town of Chester, and the whole covers an area of 100 acres. 
It has its name from Judge William Thompson, late of Go- 
sl n, deceased, who owned it and had a flour mill on its 
outlet. 

Wickham's Pond. — This is in Sugarloaf valley, in the 
north east part, of the town, the outlet of which composes a 
part of Wawayanda Creek. A part of it is in the town of 
. . li< area is not as large as that of Thompson's Pond. 
It had its name from William Wickham, Esq., once first 
Judge of the county, who formerly owned it. 

Sterling Pond. — This is in the south easterly part of the 
i :i, and partly in .Monroe. This is not as large as either 
of (hose formerly named. The Sterling Iron Works are on 
the outlet which runs south into New Jersey, and called Ster- 
ling Creek. The name was in honor of Lord Sterling; of 
New Jersey, of Revolutionary memory. 

The outlet of this pond had its importance in a national 
point of view from the early manufacture of Iron at the place, 
which was began nearly an hundred years since, and has 
been continued to the present time. It is the oldest in this 
vicinity, and the first anchor shop in America, except one in 
Rhode Island, was established at this locality. The manu- 
facture of iron is still extensive, there being furnaces, for- 
ges or bloomeries, an anchor shop and a furnace to make 

3B 



434 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

steel, which produces an article of good quality. The neigh- 
borhood abounds with iron ores of the best and most profita- 
ble kinds. 

Lord Sterling. — This gentleman lived near Basking- 
ridge, in New Jersey. His country seat was the most splen- 
did in the state. He had parks of deer, beautiful gardens and 
many elegant horses. The following account is taken from 
the Encyclopaedia Americana. 

William Alexander, Lord Sterling, a Major General in the service of the 
United States during the Revolutionary War, was born in the city of New 
York, but passed a poi lion oi his time in New Jersey. He was generally 
styled through the country Lord Sterling, in consequence of being consid- 
ered by many the rightful heir to the title and estate of an Earldom in Scot- 
land, from which country his father came, though the government refused 
to acknowledge the son's claim. Throughout the Revolution he acted an 
important part, and particularly distinguished himself in the battles of Long 
Island, Getmantown and Monmouth. ]n the first he was taken prisoner. 
He was always warmly attached to Gen. Washington and the cause he es- 
poused. He died at Albany Jan. 15, 1783, aged 57 years, leaving behind 
him the reputation of a brave, discerning and intrepid officer, and an honest 
and honored man. 

Little, Gardner's, Black Walnut, Pine, MerriWs and 
Owen's Islands are in the Drowned Lands in the west part of 
the town. From this it would seem as if these portions of 
land were surrounded by water, yet it is not so. That was 
the fact at the early settlement of the county, but since these 
lands have been cleared up and drained, many of the spots, 
then islands, which could only be approached by a boat — 
the submerged lands having become hard and dry — are 
now traversed by turnpikes and other public roads ; and a 
stranger passing over them, would never suspect he was 
crossing the far-famed Drowned Lands of Orange countv. 

Warwick Mountains. — This name is applied to the ele- 
vated range in the southeast part of the town. 

Rough Mountain lies east of Warwick Mountains, and the 
circumstance of its being barren and rough, caused it to be so 
named. 

Sterling Mountain is still east of Rough Mountain — not. 
noted for anything in particular, and had its name from be- 
ing in (he vicinity of Sterling iron works. 

Round Mountain received its name from its general regular 
outline. 

Pochuck Mountain. — This is in the southeast part of the 
town, and Pochuck creek, which runs in (lie vicinity, gave 
the name. Pochuck is said to have been the name of an 
Indian chief, the meaning of which is net known. 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 435 

Mount Adam and Mount Eve. — These insulated mountain 
masses are united in location and we will not seperate them 
in description. They are on the edge of the Di owned Lands 
in the west part of the town. Adam is the highest ; Eve, the 
longest and largest. The latter lies east and north of the 
former. These elevations spring up from the bottom lands 
on the west, and the beautiful glades around Edenville on 
the east, without any apparent physical reason, and stand 
solitary and alone, like twin islands on the broad expanse of 
the ocean. 

Perhaps the cause which produced the interesting mineral 
region, commencing in this vicinity and extending some 20 
miles into New Jersey — mentioned in the early part of our 
paper — had something to do with upheaving these two in- 
sulated elevations. They are granite formations, and may 
become valuable for building stones, when the exigencies of 
the county shall demand them to be opened and worked for 
such purposes. 

In former times they abounded with rattlesnakes, and we 
have been told by a gentleman of the town, that when he was 
a young man, he had frequently been out with others in the 
spring of the year expressly to kill them, and destroyed 
one hundred in a day. TJgpy knew where to find them in 
their dens and wintering places. In this respect they are 
very social, and thousands spend the winter in the same den, 
They are not as numerous here as formerly ; for the cultiva- 
tion of the lands, near and around the base of the heights 
for many years, lias afforded the inhabitants an opportunity 
in many ways to exterminate them. If being alive and 
crawling with these death-dealing serpents, had any thing to 
do with the bestowment* of these names, it was a poor com- 
pliment paid Mother Eve by her children. How fruitful in 
similitudes is the human mind ! 

Dutch Reformed Church. — This originally was a Presby- 
terian Church, and organized in 1764 or '5, and so remained 
till 1804 or '5, when it was changed (o its present denomi- 
nation. A large proportion of the congregation were Dutch 
families, and to gratify their partialities "changed it. The 
change, took place when the Rev. Mr. Hardenburgh was 
pastor. The names of the several pastors and the order of 
time in which they preached were as follows : Parkhurst, 
Joline, Hardenburgh, John I. Chester from 1812 to 1833, 
Van Keuren till 1836, then Stewat. then the Rev. Ferdinand 
H. Vandeveer, its present pastor. 



436 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 



Babtist Church. — This was organized in 1766, and 
James Benedict ordained its first pastor. The first Church 
was built in 1774, till which time the meetings were held at 
the houses of the members of the congregation, but chiefly 
at the dwelling of Daniel Burt, the first settler. Thomas B. 
Montagne was ordained its pastor in 1788, Thomas Stephens 
in 1802, then Libeus L. Lathrop, who continued fourteen 
years — then Philander D. Jillett for six or seven years, then 
John C. Murphy for three or four years, then Richard Pick- 
aid for eleven years, then the Rev. Philander Hartwell, the 
present pastor. The services in this Church have been very 
regular since its organization, for when there was no settled 
minister they employed supplies. 



AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 



1 820. Ananias Wilson, 
Alanson Austin, 
James Burt, 
Ananias Wilson, 
Jonas Seely, 
James Burt, 

1821. Ananias Wilson, 
Beni. t Bloomer, 
Edward L. Welling, 
Betsey Hough, 
- Jedediah Sayre, 
do do 

Ananias Wilson, 
Jonas Seely, 
Samuel Jacks, 
Jeffrey Wisner, 

1820. Widow Austin, 

T.&E. L. Welling, 

George H. Jackson, 
do do 

Jonas Seely, 
1*23. Ananias Wilson, 
do do 

John Sutton, 

George H. Jackson, 

Jonas Seely, 
1824. do do 

George H. Jackson, 



Second best Farm, 


$10 


Best Wheat, 


to 


Best Oats, 


5 


Best Potatoes, 


10 


Second best working Oxen, 


10 


Best Diaper, 


6 


Best improved Farm — 100 acres, 


20 


Best winter Wheat, 


20 


Greatest quantity of Barley, 


b 


Best Cheese, not less than 20 pounds, 


5 


Best four Hogs, 


10 


Best four Figs, 


5 


Second best six Calves, 


6 


Second best latted Cattle, 


8 


Best grass Hat, 


10 


Second best piece of Linen, 


4 


Best Farm in the town, 


10 


Best Corn. Corn drilled in rows, 122 




bushels to the acre. 


10 


Best Hemp, 


10 


Second best stud Horse, 


8 


Second best working Oxen, 


5 


Best Bull. 


5 


Third best, 


3 


Best four Hops, 


4 


Second best Clover Seed, 


5 


Second best pair working Oxen, 


a 


Best improved Farm, 


15 


Best Hemp from four acres. 


10 



INCIDENTS EXTRACTED FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS. 

William Armstrong, Esq. died on the 11th of March, 1805, in the 83d 
year of his age. Through the whole of his life he bore an unexceptionable 
character, and was esteemed by all who knew him and his death universally 
regretted. Few, perhaps, ever felt or mere conscientiously practised the 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 437 

Apostle's injunction — "Be not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit. 
serving the Lord. 

Richard Jennings of the town of Goshen was missing from 
his house on the 21st of Feb., 1818, and on the 28th was 
found on his farm dead. He appeared to have been shot and 
then dreadfully beaten with the musket. It seemed that he 
had some litigation with his neighbor David Conkling, who 
formed a conspiracy and employed a negro, Jack Hodges, 
for a reward of $500 to take the life of Jennings. After Jack 
perpetrated the act,«he absconded, but was taken, and with 
Conkling, Teed and Dunning, committed to prison. 

Murder Trials.— On Thursday last the Court of Oyer and Terminer, 
which commenced its session on the 23d ult. adjourned after performing the 
most laborious and painful duties. This Court was ordered for the purpose 
of trying the several persons accused of the murder of Richard Jennings. — 
These unfortunate men have been tried, found guilty and received the sen- 
tence due to the enormity of their crime — a punishment demanded by the 
offended laws of cur country ! David ConMing, James Teed, Jack Hodges 
and David Dunning are to be EX ROUTED on Friday the 16th day of April 
next, between the hours of 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and Hannah, 
the wife of James Teed, in consideration of her sex and peculiar situation, 
..Vc. has had the hand of mercy extended towards her. She is only to be 
imprisoned, in the county jail, lor 30 days. The evidence against the pris- 
oners was of both a positive and circumstantial nature. Jack, the black man, 
after his conviction, was admitted as an evidence on the part of the people. 

It appeared, from Hodges' testimony, that he was brought up to the sea — 
came to this county about eighteen years since, has lived with various per- 
sons, and for the last two years in the employ of David Conkling, one ol the 
prisoners — that Conkling and Teed had for a long time been engaged in liti- 
gation with the late Mr. Jennings— that at the last Circuit a suit was decided 
in favor of Jennings which blasted the hopes of Conkling and Teed. Fired 
with revenge, and unwilling that their opponent should triumph over them 
by enjoying the property which was about to be put into his possession, they 
determined to cany into operation what they had for a long time in contem- 
plation ; accordingly Jack and Dunning were sounded on the subject. One 
thousand dollars was what they were to receive for the perpetration of this 
horrid act. After frequent importunities, Jack partook of the iiend-Iike spir- 
it of these two men ; in an evil moment, and in a state of intoxication, he 
determined upon the destruction of Mr. Jennings. Conkling loaded the gun 
— gave him whiskey — directed him to tepair to the house Teed in the even- 
ing, where Dunning also resided, and to watch their opportunity for the per- 
petration of this shocking crime. This was on Saturday ; on the Monday 
following Mr. Jennings was seen by Dunning passing the house — Jack was 
at breakfast when Dunning informed him that Jennings had gone by — Jack 
arose from the table, seized his musket, and said to Mrs. Teed, " shall I 
commit the deed ?" She replied, " Yes ! its time the old savage was out of 
the world !" and gave him a drink of whiskey. An arrangement had been 
previously made that Dunning should decoy the old man into an adjoining 
piece of wood land, and that Jack should come up and shoot him. When 
Jack left Teed's, Dunning and Jennings were walking abreast of each other 
about forty rods ahead — he followed on and came up to them in the woods 



438 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

— presented the gun — " is it loaded," said Jennings — No! was the reply, 
and Jack fired, which brought his victim to the ground ! ! He was not dead. 
Jack, to use his own expression, was " shocked," and turned away from 
the horrid scene. The better feelings of his nature recoiled from the base 
deed. This was a critical moment ; there was no going back — for 

-" They were in blood 



Steep'd in so far, that, should they wade no more, 
To return would be as dangerous as go o'er." 

Dunning seized the musket from Jack, and in the most brutal manner, 
with the butt of it, beat the old man about the head and breast till he was 
dead. They both returned, by separate ways, to Teed's house. Jack re- 
mained there all night, making free use of whiskey, which Mrs. Teed placed 
at his disposal. In the morning he repaired to Conkling's — gave him the 
broken pieces of the gun, and informed him of the murder — was going on 
to particularize, when Conkling stopped him, and said he did not wish to 
hear any more. Jack went to bed. He remained around Conkling's for 
some days, during which he was repeatedly urged by Conkling and Teed to 
go away. After the neighborhood began to make search for Jennings, they 
repeated their wish more urgently for Jack to go off — gave him ten dollars, 
and a paper directed to a JVJr. Rodair of New York, in which he was recom- 
mended as faithful and honest — and a request that he would assist in getting 
him to sea. Conkling promised to meet Jack in New York, when he would 
pay him his wages, and reward for the murder. Teed followed Jack to 
Newburgh for the purpose of urging his departure — met him there, and saw 
him safe on board the ferry boat. 

The above are the leading features of the testimony to which Jack swore, 
accompanied with a thousand other circumstances relative to the transaction. 
His evidence was candid, clear and consistent throughout — it carried con- 
viction to the minds of all the hearers. No one, however intelligent, could 
invent and assert a falsehood and not be detected by the severe cross exami- 
nations under which Jack went. But armed, as he was, with the power and 
majesty of truth, he defied the ingenuity of counsel — he baffled all at- 
tempts to entrap him in a falsehood. In addition to Jack's positive testimo- 
ny, it was proved by other witnesses thot both Conkling and Teed, had, on 
various occasions, made use of expressions such as " I wish old Jennings 
was dead " — " it would be no more harm to kill him than it would be to kill 
a grey squirrel !" — " I will give five hundred dollars to any man that will 
kill him," &c. Much more circumstantial evidence was adduced, but our 
limits prevent its insertion. Jack's statement, where it was susceptible of 
corroboration, was substantiated by other witnesses. On the trial of Dun- 
ning, the wretched men, Conkling and Teed, after their conviction, were 
brought forward to disprove Jack's testimony, but which we understand had 
a contrary effect. Their story, although the result of an understanding, was 
evidently inconsistent. They, however, admitted the most material parts in 
Jack's testimony, which made them accessaries after the fact. When brought 
to receive sentence, Conkling and Teed were very much distressed, in which 
feelings the whole audience and Court participated. It was truly an affect- 
ing moment ! Four fellow creatures were about receiving sentence of death 
— wives, were to be made widows — children orphans, and a vast connection, 
most of whom respectable, were about enshrouding themselves with misery 
and sorrow — nay, perhaps disgrace! It was an awful moment — a period 
calculated to awaken all the tender sensibilities of the heart— all the finer 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 439 

feelings of our nature ! But " the wages of sin is death." His honor Judge 
Van Ness, after passing the sentence of the law, advised them as friends to 
prepare to meet their God ! admonished them not to let a false hope of par- 
don divert their attention from the paramount duties which ensure a safety 
of their souls — to meet their fate as christians ! His address did honor to 
him as a man — he exercised the sternness of a magistrate, but never lost 
sight of the great duties which our religion inculcates. 

The black man's body, agreeably to the sentence, is to be handed over to 
the president of the Medical Society for dissection. The authority under 
which the judges exercise this part of the sentence, should be blotted from 
our statute books — it is a relic of barbarism, and disgraceful to a civilized 
community. — Republican, March 15, 1819 

Confession of David Dunning; made April 15, 1819, in the presence of 
Mrs. Dunning and John Dunning. Richard F. Cadle. 

Previously to the making the following confession, Mr. Dunning was ad- 
dressed in these words: — 

A sense of duty and a regard to your interest compel me now to entreat 
you to think of your awful situation, and, in the confession you are about 
to make, to adhere to the truth. You are a dying man ; in a few minutes 
you will be in the eternal world ; you will stand before the judgment seat of 
God, and if you now wilfully misstate or utter any falsehood, I verily believe 
there is no mercy in store for you. All liars will have their part in the lake 
which burneth with fire and brimstone--the smoke of their torments will 
ascend up forever — they will suffer the pains of the worm that never dies, 
and of the fire which never is quenched. God is now present with us ; he 
sees your heart ; he knows and will hear what you are about to utter ; and 
if you deceive us you cannot deceive him, but he will swear in his wrath 
that you shall not enter into his rest. If you are guilty of the murder of 
Mr. Jennings, you must, as you hope for salvation, confess it: nothing else 
will answer; private and secret sorrow is not sufficient ; God requires you 
to disclose your guilt. It is no matter what the world thinks; your soul is 
of more value than ten thousand worlds ; you will shortly be removed from . 
the earth, and you will find it to have been your true wisdom to have se- 
cured the favor of God. 

David Dunning states that he went to live at Mr. Teed's in the month of 
April. 1818. He says there never was any dispute between him and Rich- 
ard Jennings. He had a conversation with Mr. Jennings last fall, who was 
going to serve a notice on David Conkling to attend the Circuit Court, when 
he gave him encourgement that he should not lose his labor, when posses- 
sion should be obtained of the property that had been so long in dispute. 
Mr. Jennings asked him if Mr. Conkling had promised to indemnify him, 
and if he had security ? He answered that he had a promise but no security 
for its fulfilment. Mr. Jennings further told him that he did not wish to do 
to him (Dunning) as Mr. Conkling had done to him— shut him up in prison 
and reaped his grain. 

The next time Mr. Jennings and he met, was at Mr. Coe Teed's, soon after 
the Circuit Court, and ihey were friendly to each other. He asked Mr. 
Jennings if he expected to regain the land : who replied that he did. He 
then asked if, when he came in possession of it, he would refrain from pro- 
secuting Mr. Conkling, and live on friendly terms ? Mr. Jennings answered 
he would not, for Mr. Conkling had locked him up in jail, and kept him 
twenty-four hours without meat or drink. Returning Mr. Jennings men- 
tioned that he would not allow Mr. Teed to remain in the house, but that he 



440 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

(Dunning) might. This was the last time they conversed together ; and they 
parted, he believes, with mutual good will. 

Soon after the Circuit Court, Mr. Conklingand Mr. Teed drank tea in his 
room. The conversation turning, while they were in Mr. Teed's room, on 
Mr. Jennings, Dunning said in a jocose manner, they had better get Hubbard 
and put him out of the way. Mr. Conkling observed that Hubbard would 
not do, as he belonged to the same church that his mother did; adding, Mr. 
Dunning thinks, that there could be dependence placed in Jack. After tea, 
Mr. Conkling and Mr. Teed went out of doors, and he heard them convers- 
ing by the side of the house next to the road. Mr. Conkling did not come 
into the house again, nor, as far as he recollects, did he see him before Mr. 
Jennings' body was found. He does not remember hearing Mr. Jennings' 
name mentioned afterward?, until Jack Hodges came to Sugarloaf, the Satur- 
day night before the murder. His son Lewis came out from Mr. Teed's 
room into his, and said Jack had the old musket : he asked what he was go- 
ing to do with it; his son replied that Charles Teed had said lie was going 
to kill old Dick. Jack came then into his room, where were, llila Conk- 
ling and Mrs. Dunning: Jack asked him to go out, and told him that he in- 
tended to take the life of Mr. Jennings ; he thought him in earnest, but did 
not dissuade him from his purpose, not supposing it bis business or his duty, 
and Jack at the same time bein": considerably intoxicated. He did not ask 
Jack if he was come to assist him, nor tell him that he himself was ready. 

On Sunday, while they were at the haystack, Jack said he would like to 
see Mr. Jennings; Mr. Dunning asked him if he had been hired by Mr. 
Conkling to kill Mr. Jennings ? to which he replied, No ! he did not want 
any pay — Conkling is too good a man to be used as Mr. Jennings had used 
him. Mr. Dunning told him he would never have any peace if he did this 
act, as his spirit would appear to him; Jack said he had killed, as far as he 
can recollect his expressions, many a better man ; and told him the particu- 
lars of his murdering a white man in New York. Jack stated that there was 
a mulatto girl in New York to whom he was much attached, and that while 
he was gone to sea she was kept by a white man. Being informed of this 
after his return, and having become acquainted with his rival and drank 
with him on a Sabbath day, they went at evening on board some vessel where 
he shot him with a pistol belonging to the mate, and threw him overboard. 
Mr. Dunning told Jack he had better not commit the murder, and Jack then 
concluded to drive Mr. Teed's cow to Mr. Wheadon's the next day. and as 
Mr. Teed was not at home as he had promised, he would go home and return 
another day. On Monday morning Mr. Dunning was told either by Jack or 
Teed's children that Mr. Jennings was passing ; and Jack then went into 
Mr. Teed's room, brought out the gun, and as he went through his room, 
said he was going to shoot a. partridge. Mr. Dunning acknowledges he 
thought the intention of Jack was to destroy Mr. Jennings, but most foolishly 
and wickedly, as he now laments, did not interfere to prevent the minder, 
supposing it was not his business; also thinking that Mr. Jennings would 
be in sight of Mr. Coe Teed's house before Jack could come up with him, 
and that be would not probably commit the murder in so public a place ; and 
further that Mr. Conklin and Mr. Teed and Mrs. Teed were so anxious for 
the death of Mr. Jennings, that he did not exert himself to oppose their 
wishes. He states he was chopping wood at the door, when he heard a gun 
fired, and believes he said, " I guess he is dead." Mrs. Teed, he thinks, 

hen observed, she feared there was no such good news. He was atthesta- 
ble when Jack returned, who told him he had killed Mr. Jennings, and then 
took the broken pieces of the gun into the house through the door commonly 



TOWN OF WARWICK. 441 

used by the family of Mr. Teed. Jack soon came into Mr. Dunning's room, 
who thinks he told him he ought to inform him of what was done, fearing 
lest he himself should be blamed, when Jack &aid, "Oh, no ! Dunning, you 
would not want to have me hung, and earnestly begged him not to reveal 
the murder, and also threatened his life and his family's if he did. He told 
Mr. Dunning he found Mr. Jennings in the woods, who madesome'inquiri..- 
respecting the timber, and asked him if the gun was loaded : he answered it 
was not. He then fired, but Mr. Jennings not being killed, he struck him 
violently on the head, and at every stroke he groaned. Soon after this ac- 
cpunt was given, Mr. Dunning promised .lack he would not disclose his 
crime unless examined under oath. Mr. Dunning states he was not em- 
ployed to decoy Mr Jennings into the woods, ihat he might be murdered by 
Jack. He further state's that on the night after the murder he asked Mrs 
Dunning if he had not better go to Sugarloaf to inform against Jack, and 
that he did not go, as she was afraid to be left in the house with him ; and 
that not sufficiently considering that this was his duty, nor aware of the con- 
sequences of its neglect, he afterwards concealed his knowledge of the murder. 

He confesses lie was not at East Division on the day Mr. Jennings 
missing, and that he was guilty of falsehood in his declaration to Mr. Van- 
duzer. 

He states that on the day Mr. Jennings' body was found he was 
wood at a short distance from it, that he saw what appeared like a hat, but 
not the body; that he however thought it probable the body was near there. 
He believes he did mention Mr. Jennings was gone to Delaware to procure 
shingles for a barn. He further states that when he and Mrs. Teed and Mrs. 
Dunning were at Sugar-Loaf about to appear before the coronet's jtnv, he 
begged of them to tell the truth as Jack had stated. 

He wishes to warn all not to become interested in any property which i> 
the r-ubject of dispute, from the awful condition to which he is reduced. — 
He believes he is punished for his general sins and more especially for an 
impious wish expressed by him last summer after the loss of a hors 
much valued, when "he hoped God would take him away next, as 
with nothing but misfortunes on earth." lie acknowledges that he is guilty 
of the crime of concealing the murder, but not of actual agency in it. 
looks back with sorrow on his past life, and hopes his mis< 
prove a:; -son to all who live carelessly. He confesses the justh 

God in his sufferings, he exchanges this for a happier wot es not 

much lament that he is to be cut off by an ignomimi h.- 

He professes his forgiveness of all mankind, and particularly of him 01 
whose testimony he was convicted, and begs of God to forgive him al 
trespasses, before I : !S hence and is no inoreseen. 

Republican , April If. 1819. 

The Legislature commuted the sentences of ConkSing- and 
Jack to imprisonment for life in the State prison. 

Jack became a converted man, and as was supposed a sin- 
cere christian. Conkling behaved well in prison, and being 
sick and afflicted with rheumatism was pardoned, and now 
both are dead. 

Distressing Accident.— An only child of Mr. Stephen Foster, of 
Chester, was drowned a few days since in a very singular manner. The 
mother just stepped out for a few minutes and left the child alone intht 



442 TOWN OF WARWICK. 

room— when she returned, the poor little innocent was] found in a kettle 
containing about a pail of water. — Republican, June 15, 1818. 

1820, October. Some of the inhabitants in the vicinity of Postville went 
out in pursuit of lour bears, and on the first day killed one. Next day they 
renewed the pursuit and killed another — the lemainder escaped. 

1825, December term of Common Pleas. A case of seduction and breach 
of promise of an aggravated nature was tried at Goshen. The defendant was 
William Ellis of Warwick, and the injured and unfortunate female resided 
with her father, a very respectable citizen in "Vernon, Sussex county, N. J. 
The jury gave a verdict of #2,000. 

1828, May. Fatal Curiosity. — A colored man belonging to Mr. Nehe- 
miah Finn, put an end to his life on the 10th inst., by hanging himself with 
a leather strap. He had been frequently heard to say that he wondered how 
it felt lor a person to hang himself: and it was supposed it was rather to 
gratify his curiosity than to put an end to himself, that he made the attempt, 
as he had been remarkably cheerful and in good spirits during the former 
part of the day 

Married at Amity, on the 10th of Dec. 1804, by Joshua Wells, Esq., Mr. 
i rarret Decker, of Bremstone Hill, to the delicate Miss Keziah Gardenhouse 
tit Mare's Point, both near Skunk's Misery, in the village of Mount Eve. 

Orange Eagle. 

The names of the individuals who signed the Revolution- 
ary Pledge in 1775 in this town will be found among- those 
o signed in Goshen, as this town was then apart of Goshen. 



TOWNS OF GOSHEN. 



HAMPTONBURGH 



AND 



CHESTER. 



PHYSICAL OUTLINE, ETC. 



In addition to the reason previously staled for treating of 
several towns together in this and the article of settlement, 
we now add that of brevity, for every page becomes an argu- 
ment for such a course. 

The land covered by these three towns is about of the 
same grade and kind of soil, and if there be any real or ap- 
parent difference, it is that the slate formation which under- 
lies the whole, comes nearer the surface in the town of Go- 
shen and crosses out more distinctly than in the others. We 
do not know that this condition of the slate ridges is an ab- 
solute detriment, unless they lie too near or above the sur- 
face. The annual ploughing turns up small portions of slate. 
which by the action of the frosts and atmosphere, are dis- 
solved and converted into vergin soil, which to some extent 
is afresh manure. In some respects such lands have an ad- 
vantage over lower, richer and fatter lands, in being warmer, 
earlier, and their winter crops not so liable to be frozen out. 
These remarks do not apply with the same force to Hamp- 
tonburgh and Chester. 

The hills of this district being high and sharp, and in one 
direction, the meadows are consequently extensive, continu- 
ous and productive. The wash from the adjoining eleva- 
tions is carried down to the meadows, where it is held as in 



-444 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

a basin by the close rock formation below, and enriches the 
locality, while- the whole is kept comparatively moist, per- 
haps by stagnant water or ponds beneath. 

A few years since in the town of Warwick, a Mr. Bradner 
asked permission of the commissioners of highways to 
change the direction of the highway near his dwelling, by 
carrying it in a straight course across a meadow for some two 
hundred yards, thus shortening the road. The request was 
granted on condition that he would make the new equally 
good with the old road, which wound round the head of t\\p 
meadow, along the hard dry land. Mr. Bradner commenc- 
ed filling up the new tract, till he had carried it some 30 or 
40 yards into the meadow — one morning when he went to 
inspect it, lo ! it had all disappeared beneath the surface, and 
some water was standing above the sunken tract. Not. wil- 
ling to give it up, he put down stakes, brush and timbers on 
the southerly side to keep the ground to be deposited in its 
place, and continued his process of filling up. After this 
was continued for a short time, again it all went down and 
disappeared, and on inspecting it a few days afterwards, the 
boys were baiting their hooks and catching fish in the water 
pool formed at the spot. We believe the improvement was 
given up, for we saw it in this condition not ten clays since. 

The meadow in question bad been cultivated and drawn 
over by teams for half a century. 

This is not an extraordinary or uncommon fact, for the 
same has been found in all parts of the world, even to large 
and rapid rivers ; nor is it alone peculiar to low ground, for 
lik< has been experienced on high dryland at deep per- 
forations. The reader \\\;\y recollect seeing an account with- 
in a few years of the building a rail road over a meadow in 
Ireland, where the filling fid! in several times, making in 
all 70 or SO feet of perpendicular earth, and the company 
only succeeded at great expense and labor. 

That fish should be found in these locations is not a mira- 
culous tact, for these subterranean waters have all a direct or 
indirect communication with ponds and rivers. In the marl- 
pit, out of which the Brewster Mastodon was dug, small fish 
wen- found at the time. There is no brook, stream or inlet 
of any kind into this locality, which is a small basin formed 
by two low slate ridges, and surrounded by highlands. The 
Big Pond or Orange Lake, is the nearest water of any magni- 
tude, from which they could have come. 

In these towns there is an extensive mass of peet forma- 
tion, equal to any future demand for the article. It begins 



HAMPTONBURGII AND CHESTER. 44D 

near the county Poor House in Goshen, and continues with 
broken intervals till it runs out in the eastern part of Chester. 
On this point we refer the reader to the geological survey of 
the county by Doct. Horton. Independent of these extensive 
meadows there is little level land, and the whole may be 
considered beautiful and undulating with an occasional sharp 
and long elevation. 

Mount Lookout in Goshen, md ^ugarloaf in Chester, are 
the principal mountain elevations. The former is limestone 
and furnishes fine building materials, but the lime is not of 
good quality. Besides this, and the limestone quarries of Mr. 
Connings at the head of the Tamarack Swamp, the stone, 
from which are now being used to build bridges across the 
Otterkill, in the vicinity of Washingtonville, by the New 
burgh branch of the N. Y. and Erie rail road, we do not 
know where any other valuable building materials are found 
in these towns. The limestone, therefore, seems to be the 
most valuable, and the range commences at Neelytown on 
the old farm of William Eager, and taking a south westeth 
direction, is seen at Mr. Harlow's and Connings', on the 
lands originally settled by Charles Booth, then again at 
Mount Lookout, and so on to the drowned lands. It then 
passes into New Jersey, where it forms a beautiful marble, 
sometimes white, with a slight tinge of ) r ellow, resembling 
the Parian marble ; at other times clouded black, sometimes 
varied black, and at other times arborescent. Vide pp. 23--4. 

The streams of these towns are few, small and insignifi- 
cant, the Walkill excepted, and are only Quaker Creek, the 
Otterkill and Walkill. These, together, furnish but a very 
limited amount of hydraulic power. We believe they do not 
contain the whole of a sing l< poi d of any name or note, for 
Wickham's and Thomps Is, besides which, there are 

no others, arc partly in other towns. 

The soil of these towns about equally good for grass or 
grain, but in consequent f the vicinity or the N. Y. and 
Erie rail road, and the ,, mediate influence of the city of 
New York as a provision la ket, their husbandry is, and 
must continue to be, din ! I to stock, and its products in 
various ways, as its great and most reliable staples. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT OF GO: HEN, HAMPTONBURGII AND CHESTER. 

The Pat< t of Waicayanda. 

In our remarks on this article we claim, as we previously 
have done, the privilege of prolixity, in consequence of the 



446 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

necessity we find imposed upon ns, of associating with it 
other matters more or less directly or indirectly connected. — 
The subjects referred to are, the Patent — its original settle- 
ment by Christopher Denn and Daniel Cromline — the time 
and manner — and by whose personal exertions tbe same was 
effected, etc. 

The patent was granted by twelve Indian Sachems or 
Chiefs representing their tribes, some of whom, if not all, 
resided on the lands granted, or in their vicinity. This patent, 
doubtless, was confirmed in the then usual manner by royal 
authority. It is dated on the 5th of March, 1703, in the 
reign of Queen Anne, and the names of the twelve Indian 
grantors were — Rapingonick, Wawastawaw, Moghopuck, 
Comelawaw, Nanawitt, Ariwimack, Rumbout, Clauss, 
Chouckhass, Chingapaw, Oshasquemonus and Quliapaw. 

The names of the twelve patentees were — John Bridges, 
LL.D., Hendrick Tenyck, Derick Vandeburgh, John Chot- 
well, Christopher Denn, Lancaster Syms, Daniel Honan, 
Philip Rockeby. John Meredith, Benjamin Aske, Peter Mat- 
thews and Christian Christianse. All of these individuals 
at the time, or a principal portion of them resided at Har- 
vestraw, N. J. At the time of the grant it was said to con- 
fain 60,000 acres, but in fact, when run out, was found to 
cover $150,000. ' 

The patent is generally called the Wawayanda Patent, 
but in all the old conveyances is called the patent to John 
Bridges and Company. Its bounds are as follows: "Bounded 
eastward by the high hills of the Highlands and the patented 
lands of Capt. John Evans, on the north by the division line 
of the counties of Orange and Ulster; on the westward, by 
the high hills to (lie eastward ofMinisink; and on the south, 
by the division line of the provinces of New York and New 
Jersey." 

This patent, ought to have been cancelled, as the unlimited 
one to Capt. John Evans was, on the grounds of magnitude, 
uncertainty and want of consideration. At the date of this 
patent the government granted any thing of the kind that 
was asked for, without any apparent reflection, or judgment 
upon the consequences that probably might result. Patents 
were then issued without an actual survey, and this is the 
reason why they were so uncertain and indefinite in their 
boundaries. As early, however, as 1720 the error of this 
practice was seen, and no patents, at about that time and af- 
terwards were granted without an actual survey. This pa- 
tent, the Cheescocks' 1 , and the one to Capt. John Evans 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 447 

coveted nearly all of the county of Orange, and parts of Sul- 
livan and Ulster. 

The Wawayanda patent covers a part of each of the fol- 
lowing - towns : — Minisink, Warwick, Goshen and Hampton- 
burgh. The magnitude of the patent, its early date and 
the limited number of patentees, show that the grant was for 
mere speculating purposes ; upon which they slept and 
dreamed golden dreams about magnificent fortunes, soon to 
be realized and clearly within their view. They soon began 
to sell out to each other, and now and then to strangers. 

The following were some of them, the evidence of which 
is furnished from the early records in the County Clerk's 
Office:— 

Rockeby sold his undivided right to Daniel Cromline 7 John 
Merritt and Elias Boudinot, on the 10th of June, 1704. Vide 
Liber B., page 9. 

John Bridges died June, 1704. 

Cornelius Ciistianse sold his undivided right to Derick 
Vanderburgh, September 8, 1704. 

Hendrick Tenyck sold his undivided right to Daniel 
Cromline, December 8th, 1704. 

Daniel Herran sold his undivided right to Col. William 
Merritt, April 18, 1705. Vide Liber B., p. 26. 

John Chotwell sold* his undivided right to Adrianse 
Hooghlandt, October 19, 1706. Vide Liber B., p. 30. 

Ann Bridges, widow of John Bridges, sold one hundred 
three and twentieth part to Adiianse Hooghlandt, November 
7, 1706. Vide Liber B., p. 23. 

She also sold one undivided twelfth part to John Vanhorn, 
July 24, 1708. Vide Liber B., p. 65. 

Previous to the last three sales, it appears that on the 30th 
of March, 1706, the proprietors agreed to give, under cer- 
tain restrictions, 600 acres to the fust settler of their number 
who should make a settlement On the patent before the end 
of May, 1709. Page 21. 

There is a tradition that this first settlement was attempted ; 
but by whom, when and where made, and how far success- 
ful, we have no knowledge. Our remarks on this article are 
based chiefly on some notes made by an old and intelligent 
individual many years since, from his own knowledge, tra- 
ditionary statements, and information received from Mrs. 
William Bull, (previously Sarah Wells,) of whom he was a 
descendent, and therefore, doubtless, very accurate. Person- 
ally, we know but, little of these old matters, and are com- 
pelled to glean up and take the facts as we find them, scat- 



44<5> TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

ered along a strong stream of tradition and verified by the 
direct testimony of Sarah Wells. 

The patentees and their immediate grantees, for some years 
subsequent to the date of the patent, failed to realize their 
expectations by a re-sale of the land, though they opened an 
office in the city of New York for the purpose. These agents 
exhibited maps and drawings of the patent, represented the 
nature and quality of the soil, streams, ponds, mill sites, etc., 
etc.; for it had probably been surveyed in part, and divided 
up into lots — at least, on paper — and made ready for market : 
still, speculators were few, and applicants from those wishing 
lo locate and settle, fewer yet. Things remained in this con- 
on for several years. 

Grants to the Church and Academy. 

It appears from the records in the County Clerk's office, 

• at about this time the patentees, or the then owners. 
made a deed in trust to Messrs. Everett and doughs, two of 
their number, to lay out the plot of a town village, etc., and 
to make grants for a church and parsonage to be erected 
thereon, for an academy to be established, and for otherpub- 
lic purposes. This trust was properly and judiciously exe- 

■d. and the public institutions referred to are t o - < 1 
joying the endowments thus early conferred upon them. — 
We do not know that these apparently virtuous and pious 

Uiities were made by these gentlemen out of any pure re- 
spect and regard, that they entertained for (lie welfare of the 

itutions named, or as means to sell and get rid of their 
Lands, and induce individuals to purchase and locate. Though 
the gifts were large and of a benificent character, they cost 
the grantors comparatively nothing, as the patent itself was 
a gilt from the Indians, or their sovereign Queen Anne. — 
But however this may have been, the present and future in- 
habitants of the town of Goshen ought to consider themselves 
under high obligations, and regard the act with kindness 
and the patentees with gratitude. These grants are contin- 
ually before the citizens of the town as beacon lights erected 
by their forefathers, and it will lie their pleasure and business 
to preserve them with a holy and filial reverence, and keep 
their lights renewed and burning. By this remark, we do not 
intend to be understood as saying that they have not done so ; 
on the contrary, we are of opinion that, they have to a virtu- 
ous extent, equal to that of any of their fellow citizens of the 
county. 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 449 



Village Plot. 

There is a little confusion as to the manner in which these 
grants were made ; but it appears that on the 10th of July, 
1721, the persons interested in this portion of the patent, to 
wit : John Everett, John Carpenter, John Gale, William 
Ludlum, Nathaniel Higby, John Carpenter, jr., G. McNish, 
James Sandys, Thomas Watson, Hope Rodes, John Holly, 
James Jackson, Isaac Finch, Solomon Carpenter, John Bears, 
Michael Dunning, Samuel Seely, John Nichols, William 
Jackson, Alexander Moore, John Knapp, Samuel Webb, John 
Alsop and Richard Halsted made a deed in trust to John Yel- 
verton of Goshen ; among other things, reciting that the 
owners of Wawayanda had lately made a conveyance to 
John Everett and Samuel Clows of one-sixth part of all 
said lands, to the intent that a township should be taken up 
and laid out, and ten acres for highways and for settling a min- 
ister, etc.; — that a township had been laid out and three tracts 
surveyed, one of 70 acres, one of 61 acres and one of 9 acres ; — 
that the first two were for a parsonage and the latter for a 
burying place, and to build a minister's house and school 
house as the town should order ; and that he was to execute 
a deed to such persons as a majority of the inhabitahts of said 
town should direct, etc. 

This deed, we believe, was not executed by Yelverton in 
his life, but was by his son after his death. 

There has been a diversity of opinion for many years past, 
as to the rightful jurisdiction over the grounds around the 
Presbyterian Church, whether the same was in the inhabit- 
ants of the town, or in the trustees of the church. In 1833 
the town appointed H. G. Wisner, A. S. Benton, D. P. Far- 
rand, John J. Smith and Benjamin Gardner a committee, to 
examine the question of jurisdiction. We have examined their 
report, and think they made a pretty strong case for the au- 
thority claimed by the town. Whether the question has ever 
been finally settled we are not informed. We have no opin- 
ion about it, and only state it as a curious old fact. 

The proprietors laid out the village of Goshen by running 
a broad street or avenue, nearly north and south through 
the plot, some half a mile in length, and then by laying off 
four lots of eighty acres each, on the east and west sides of it. 
The church and academy lots were at the south end of the 
street, and we believe the present erections designate the lo- 
cations of the several and respective grants. At what time 

2C 



450 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

or how long after the date of the patent this was executed 
we are not informed, but was before 1721. The records were 
burned up many years since, which probably contained the 
evidence of the transaction. We must be permitted to say, 
chat we do not admire the wisdom of those gentlemen in lo- 
cating the village on a meadow soil, while abundance of fine 
dry land was in the immediate vicinity, at the south east and 
south west of the present plot. The village, most probably, 
was laid out within a few years after the date of the patent, 
for, as it was procured for speculating purposes, the owners 
would soon accomplish every thing which they deemed ne- 
cessary in their judgment to place the lands fairly in market, 
and render them saleable. It was between 1703. the date of 
the patent, and 1714, for we have seen deeds for lots in the 
village plot on record, dated as early as the latter period. 

The Old Township. 

In addition to laying out the site of a village, the paten- 
tees at or about the same time, we suppose, laid out on the 
patent an oblong square, lying north west and south east, of 
several miles in extent, and known on the old maps as 
•'Goshen Township." The village of Goshen is in the north 
west part of this oblong square. This was probably laid out 
tinder an idea that in time it would constitute a political di- 
vision of the county of that dimension, would be soonest set- 
tled, and most compactly populated. But in process of time 
tnd settlement, when the divisions of the county were made 
into Precincts under the colonial laws, and afterwards into 
towns, subsequent to the Declaration of Independence, this 
town plot was found to be too small in dimensions, and we 
[uestion if the lines or boundaries of it are known to day by 
the inhabitants of the town, it never having been used for 
any political or beneficial purpose. 

Settlement of Patent by Christopher Demi. 

As previously remarked, the magnitude of the patent was 
evidence that, it was procured for speculation, and that no 
sales, or very few, were made for several years after its date, 
and we now observe that no settlements were made upon it 
till as late as 1712. It is true, as we are informed by writ- 
ten memoranda, that the Surveyors who ran it out and divid- 
ed it up into lots for their accommodation and those in their 
service, erected log cabins or temporary huts in three or four 
placed on the patent; yet these could not in any point o-i 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 451 

view be considered early settlements, as they were construct- 
ed for a specific and temporary object, and not with a view 
of location and permanent residence. And here we are 
somewhat inclined to suggest that the covered spring dis- 
covered on the lands of David M. Westcott, Esq., in the vil- 
lage of Goshen, a few years since, may have been dug out 
and stoned up within one of these temporary erections, by the 
original surveyors, for their safety and convenience. Such a 
spring was needed by them, and in a place too where it and 
they would be safe from molestation by the natives, by whom 
they were surrounded on every side. This work of running 
out the patent and subdividing it, even into large lots, if done 
on the spot, as doubtless a great portion of it was, took them 
a long time, perhaps one or more years, depending on the 
number employed. But be the suggestion true or false, we 
will recur to the finding of this spring in another part of our 
paper, as we have other theories about it, and in the mean 
time proceed with our narrative. 

Nothing having been realized by the patentees by way of 
sale and speculation from 1703 to 1712, the whole being a 
forlorn hope in that respect, and some of the patentees hav- 
ing lived out their means by feeding on hope deferred for 
nine long years of expectations, their pecuniary prospects 
had become somewhat desperate, and a crisis arrived when 
something of a definite and public character must be done 
to effect the ulterior objects of the patentees. This condition 
and state of things, though gloomy and cheerless in the pros- 
pects of the patentees, was really the most interesting period 
in the history of the patent settlement, as the reader will find r 
for it introduces him directly to the acquaintance of Mr. 
Christopher Denn and Madam Elizabeth Denn his wife, per- 
sons of some distinction and notoriety in the early settlement 
of the patent, and still held >n grateful remembrance by 
thousands in that portion of the county. 

Christopher Denn was one of the patentees of Wawayan- 
da and other patents, and by occupation a carpenter. On 
the Journal of the General Assembly we find the following 
proceedings : 

"Oct. 15, 1708. — Ms. Sebring complaining that Christopher Den had 
seized his boat he generally comes in to this city from his own house, 
knowing him to be a member of this house, and in the hearing of several 
members told him " he was glad to hear it was a boat belonging to a mem- 
bei of this house." 

" Resolved, That the same is a bjeach of privilege and a great contempt 

of this ho-use-.'' 



452 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

Mr. Sebring was a member from Kings county, Long Is- 
land, and for some reason which does not appear on the Jour- 
nal, Denn seized his boat and on the complaint was taken 
in custody by the Sergeant at Arms, brought up and on ask- 
ing the pardon of the house and saying that he did not intend 
to insult it, was discharged from custody on paying the fees 
of his capture and detention. 

" In Assembly, Jane 18, 1714. — Resolved, That there be allowed and 
paid (among others) to Christopher Denne £100." 

The nature of the claim is not stated. 

It would seem from these extracts that Mr. Denn was an 
individual of some consideration at that day. At this time 
he lived in the city of New York, but when he removed there 
we do not know. At the date of the patent, and for some 
years after he resided on Staten Island ; but the nature of his 
business, perhaps that of contract builder, and his interest 
with that of others in the sale of their lands, may have in- 
duced him to remove to the city at an early day. The office 
for land sales was a central point, to which all the interests 
of the parties tended to concentration, and we find Mr. Denn 
residing there from 1708 to 1712. 

In the memoranda previously referred to, there is an inti- 
mation that about at the date of the latter period, Denn had 
lived up his means, but whether by mismanagement or other- 
wise does not. appear, and that it was imperative upon him 
to do something to increase his pecuniary ability, or want, 
with the energy and velocity of an armed man, might soon 
overtake him. Enterprise or starvation were before him, 
and he was under the necessity of making an election, and he 
wisely chose the former. 

A settlement on the patent of some one individual, by way 
of open example and inducement to others, had been a great 
''desideratum" with the company for seveial years. The 
desperate condition of Denn and the interest of the company, 
fortunately wrought together in harmony in the matter, and 
designated him as the desired and proper person to try the 
experiment of pushing his fortune in the wilderness of Wa- 
wayanda, amidst the beasts of prey and surrounded by ihe 
red men of the forest. 

A Portion of the Patent set off to Christopher Denn. 

It appears from the map of Orange and Rockland counties, 
and from an old map on parchment in the county clerk's 
office of the division of the patent into lots, that a certain 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 453 

tract or lot of land, a part of the patent, and triangular in 
form, lying on the north easterly bounds of the town lots of 
the village of Goshen, was set off to Christopher Denn. — 
The lot contained about 2000 acres, and was surveyed by Pe- 
ter Berrian. This was probably a part of Denn's interest in 
the patent, and set off to him in the division. 

This lot is bounded as follows : and we modernize the de- 
scription that the reader may know it from the monuments 
named, Beginning at a stake and stones about east of and 
10 chains from the dwelling house of Gen. Abraham Vail, in 
east diyision ; thence north westerly along the north easterly 
bounds of the Goshen town lots, and until it meets with a 
line supposed to divide the old counties of Ulster and Or- 
ange ; thence east along the same to a stake and stones 
known to be standing near the top of the highland or moun- 
tain above Charles Heard's, in Hamptonburgh ; thence on a 
course south about 36 degrees west to the place of beginning. 

It was upon this lot on the west bank of the Otterkill, and 
about 6 or 8 chains westerly from the bridge across the 
stream known as Tusten's Bridge, that Christopher Denn 
in 1712 located a residence for himself and family, and more 
particularly mentioned hereafter. 

As intimated, Denn agreed to make the experiment of a 
first settler, which doubtless was at the instigation and with 
the co-opecation of the other owners. It was the interest of 
all to accomplish so desirable an object, else Wawayanda 
would remain as it was, a howling wilderness, infested by 
serpents, roamed over by beasts of prey and lit up by the 
fires of the wigwam and war dance. 

Denn visits the Patent. 

Like a prudent general who is about to invade an enemy's 
country and sends scouts forward to view the nature of the 
land, the difficulties to be encountered, and how overcome, 
with the dispositions of the inhabitants, whether friendly or 
hostile, and its ability to support for some limited time an 
invading force, so Christopher Denn thought proper first to 
inspect the location, calculate the difficulties of the enter- 
prise, and learn from personal observation and intercourse, 
the temper and will of the natives who tenanted the lands. 
Accordingly he went upon the patent, viewed the forest over, 
held familiar intercourse with the Indians, inquired of them 
their wishes in relation to his settling among them, to clear 
up the land and cultivate it with grain, &c; and finding all 



454 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

things favorable to his design, selected a spot where a spring 
of pure water gushed from the hill side, on the bank of the 
Otterkill, for a permanent residence and future home. 

At this period the Indians doubtless were well acquainted 
with many of the early settters in the then county of Orange, 
in that part now Rockland, had had intercourse with the pro- 
prietors or some of them, and with the corps of surveyors 
who ran out the patent, and of course knew the objects of 
the proprietors when they granted them their lands, and 
therefore, the proposed settlement of Denn among them, was 
not a suspicious, new or unexpected event. It is also very 
probable, that they could at this time, speak many English 
words and understand much of an ordinary conversation held 
in that language, and were able readily to comprehend the 
wishes and objects of Denn, in his then intercourse with them. 

Denn having found all things as agreeable to his wishes 
and fu( ure hopes as he had any reason to expect, to make- 
apparent safety doubly sure, and to engratiate himself more 
effectually in the personal graces and good will of the Indi- 
ans, proposed that some of them, who had kindly assisted the 
surveyors, should accompany him to the city of New York 
and aid him in removing up. This was a generous appeal 
to their confidence and good will, and it threw an anchor of 
safety, as was supposed, into the affections and kind regards 
of the untutored and wily Indians. They acquiessed in the 
proposition, and three young men who had acte'd as guides 
to the surveyors over the untracked hills and through the 
deep glens of Wawayanda, were sent by their friends to ac- 
company him to the city and assist in removing his family 
and goods to his contemplated new abode. In company they 
descended the river in a sloop and arrived in safety. 

Sarah Wells. — The reader will permit us to change 
somewhat the subject of remark, and introduce him to a 
young female acquaintance, a relative of the writer, and 
whom he saw in 1796, at the advanced and venerable age of 
102 years, when he was but 6. Though half a century has 
passed away and blotted many deep impressions from our 
memory, the recollection of that aged parent and mother in 
Israel, will go down with us to the grave and be effaced only 
in death. At that early day her descendents were already 
numerous, and the filial regard and respect which now en- 
shrine her memory deep in the bosom of every child, had be- 
gan to form and circulate around her person, which was re- 
garded as the cherished monument of another age. 

" Heroic and venerated mother ! thy descendent unknown 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 455 

to fame, with a new born feeling inspired by this moment, 
would affectionately mention thy name and address thy 
memory. 

Thy descendents, found in every walk and station in ordi- 
nary life, like the stately trees which once waved their leafy 
bows around thy humble dwelling, on the hill side in Wa- 
wayanda, with pride and gratitude, now cluster around thy 
name and memory. Early, in the beginning of thy days, God 
bereft thee of parental love, and placed thee, where 

" No mother's care 

'• Shielded thy infant innocence with prayer," 

that He might be the father of the fatherless. He then took 
thee up in the arms of his providence and carried thee in 
safety along the journey of life — then cast thee upon the cold 
pity of a selfish world, upon the native strength and vigor of 
thy mind, to fit and prepare thee to endure the burning heats 
of summer, the blasts of winter that howled around thy dwel- 
ling, and what was more, the storms of life. He then cared 
for thee in the length of thy days, and in blessing thee with 
many children, blessed thee with his ancient and early bles- 
sing. 

We admire thy maiden intrepidity in traversing the dark 
bosom of Wawayanda, when, in dutiful obedience to un- 
kind authority, the red men of the forest led thy footsteps 
through the wild wood, and guarded thy couch by the gleam 
of their weapons. 

We thank thee for enduring dangers, unusual toil, and 
sufferings beyond thy years, and for personal sacrifices in our 
behalf. 

We honor thee for being the parent of a numerous race — 
for a long life and an honored grave. In a just pride for the 
virtuous blood we inherit, may it flow on, while, with a filial 
regard, increased by the lapse of time, we embalm thee in 
the hearts of thy kindred, and erect this humble, but public, 
monument to thy name and memory." 

We now return to the parties as we left them, at the residence 
of Mr. Denn in the city of New York, to observe that the 
young Indians were introduced to, and made acquainted with 
the members of the family, as friends residing on the patent, 
and made comfortable with household cheer. 

It is now proper to remark that Mr. and Madam Denn were 
childless, but had in their family a little orphan maid, born 
in New Jersey, opposite to Staten Island, whom they had 
adopted as their own, and who had lived with them front 



456 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

her tender years, while they resided on that island. The 
name of this orphan maid, then about sixteen years of age, 
was Sarah Wells, subsequently married to William Bull of 
Hamptonburgh, and who became the ancestor of a numerous 
line of descendents in this and the adjoining counties. In 
person, Sarah Wells was less than the majority of her sex ; 
yet, though light and fragile, she was active and capable of 
remarkable exercise and endurance. This, in part, may 
have resulted from the fact, that while young she had been 
in the habit of crossing the ferry in an open boat, from Staten 
Island to New York, attending to the market business of her 
patrons. This exposure, while it imparted health by the ex- 
ercise, not only hardened and compacted a constitution other- 
wise delicate, but deepened the color of her sanguine com- 
plexion. Her eyes were neither large nor prominent, but 
dark, playful and sparkling. Though not a flippant talker, 
she was free and conversable; and when excited to reply to 
some rude remark or impertinent inquiry, her eyes would 
flash like fire, and the presumptuous intruder was sure to be 
wounded in the conflict, and carry the scar home with him 
for reflection. 

The times in which she lived, and the individuals with 
whom she held intercourse in the early part of her life, and 
afterwards, while the county was being settled, were not of 
the most refined and cultivated character ; and much, which 
at this day would be deemed rude and vulgar, influenced to 
a large extent the habits, manners and conversation of the 
early settlers. It is not to be denied, that there is a fashion 
in these forms of society at different periods, as in every 
thing else ; while there may be as much purity of thought 
and intention in one form and period as in others. We are led 
frequently to form erroneous opinions of our ancestors, in these 
and other matters, from our ignorance of the general cast of 
the times, and from our prejudices in favor of those in which 
we live. We may say, perhaps with historic certainty, that 
at the period above referred to, all classes of people were ap- 
parently ruder and more destitute of artificial refinement, 
and indulged in a strain of coarser observation and remark 
than we are accustomed to hear at this day ; still, it is hard 
for us to say they sinned in this respect, against light and 
knowledge, and now, at the end of a century, to arraign them 
for it at the bar of public opinion. All things considered, we 
are inclined to pass the most lenient judgment, and in the ad- 
justment of the balances, besides the dust they contain, to 
throw in many other grains of allowance. In relation to this 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 457 

point, on which we might detain the reader, we say to all 
who are disposed to carp and find fault with the free, undis- 
guised and hearty conversational intercourse of our ancestors, 
their open, free and social manners, and with their small 
measure of false delicacy, " Evil to him who evil thinks." 
We honor and approbate, while we are inclined to say that 
the free, bold and self-possessed traits, observable in our na- 
tional character, are in some measure referrable to these con- 
ditions of society. 

Preparations and Means to make a Settlement. 

More effectually to ensure his purposes, Denn broke ground 
at a distance, and rehearsed to his family, that the Indians he 
had brought with him were the children of the tribes, who 
had parted with their lands to the patentees — that they had 
befriended the surveyors while running out the patent, and 
had kindly volunteered their services to assist him to remove, 
etc. This was intended to have a certain effect upon at least, 
one member of his family, destroy all fear of Indian aggres- 
sion and outrage, on venturning to make the contemplated set- 
tlement, and prove from what they had clone to and for the 
whites, while wholly within their power, how they would 
act towards them ; for which he enjoined that they be treated 
in the kindest and most friendly manner. Under the cir- 
cumstances of the case this was sensible and judicious, as he 
was about to place and jeopard the lives of others within the 
power of these crafty and untried friends of the wilderness. 
Though we have no personal history of Mr. Denn, the facts 
of the case warrant the belief, that he was not destitute of a 
moderate share of good sense and judgment. 

For some reason with which we have not been made ac- 
quainted, Denn did not wish nor intend to return with the 
Indians. His plan was to send up by them all his goods and 
chattels necessary for the present purpose, together with Sa- 
rah, to superintend and conduct the household affairs till lie 
and Madam Denn should go. That accommodations should 
be ready for their reception, he intended to send up at the 
same time some carpenters to put up a temporary wigwam, 
to serve them, till they could erect a more durable log cabin. 
The white men would be a guard for Sarah, ensure her safety 
and greatly relieve her from the very imprudent and hazard- 
ous condition in which he was about to place her. And 
here we cannat repress an exclamation ; and while we cry 
aloud, all the better portion of our nature rises in condemna- 



458 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

tion of the dangerous and unfeeling act, "to settle a patent of 
unknown wilderness twenty miles square, infested by ser- 
pents, tenanted by savages of unknown fidelity, and roamed 
over by beasts of prey, by the instrumentality and personal 
daring of this little girl !" The records of the settlement and 
population of the world, from the time Noah came from the 
ark, cannot produce a deliberate attempt like this. Modern 
female heroism stands abashed in the presence, nay, in the 
contemplation of such a fearless and dangerous act. Is there 
a man on the patent to-day, who would send out an orphan 
girl of sixteen years upon an errand like this ? and if he 
would, where is the little maid, that could summon courage 
for the enterprise, and keep her heart whole while executing" 
it 1 Though we do not wish to be severe, we cannot applaud 

■ indiscreet and unfeeling conduct of Christopher Denn. 

The plan to attempt the settlement was now to be opened 
and made known to Sarah, and her consent, if possible, ob- 
tained — else all might be a failure. The matter was broken 
and explained and her approbation asked for. As an in- 
ducement, and to quiet her fears, they stated that they would 
take horses and proceed up by land on the west side of the 
river, through Harvestraw and the Highlands, and meet her 
at the new location at some future but early day — in the 
course of five or six weeks at farthest ; and, as if an appeal 
to the worldly and grosser portion of her nature would seduce 
her will, and conquer the strong and innate aversions of the 
maiden's mind, Denn offered a bounty of one hundred acres of 
land for her services, out of, or adjoining his portion of the pat- 
ent. When Denn ceased to speak, she looked around upon the 
three Indians, as they stood clad in the rude and uncouth garb 
of the forest, with raven locks, undressed and filthy in person; 
whose dark eyes fell upon her like the gaze of a reptile, and 
an involuntary shudder vibrated her frame, as if it were an 
aspen leaf. As if thunder struck by the magnitude and in- 
humanity of the proposition, she remained silent and pro- 
tested not against.it. Thus far, ever dutiful 1o the commands 
of the only persons on earth whom she had known as father 
or mother, in a moment she became calm and collected, and 
rose in spirit and dignity of character equal to the crisis ;, and 
as if with prophetic vision, and with a mind cheered more by 
hope than depressed by fears, yielded consent. The after 
character of this girl, as developed when grown to woman- 
hood, and performing the arduous duties assigned her by her 
i hen associations and condition in life, abundantly assures 
i . that laborious and dangerous indeed must have been the 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 459 

service which she feared to assume, or could not accomplish. 
Though small of her age and delicate in person, she was 
tenanted by a soul daring and dauntless as those of the Indians 
who stood beside her. We may truly say of her, as the poet 
said of one of the other sex, " what woman dared do, she 
dared." Her regrets on the occasion were more deep and 
poignant on account of paitiag with Madam Denn, than from 
any fears of the Indians, distance or wild wood. 

On a bare statement of the case, we instinctively shrink 
from the unreasonable and cruel nature of the proposition, 
environed as its attempt and accomplishment were with 
manifest hardships and unseen dangers ; still, this little maid 
had the courage and spirit to brave them all, and carried out 
into complete execution the design and objects of her patron. 
This being settled, the next step taken by Denn was to 
collect and arrange matters, and get them in quick readiness 
, for departure. Madam Denn gave her attention to Sarah, 
and to the household department of the transaction ; while 
Denn hastened to procure the carpenters, who were to ac- 
company her. These he soon found, and engaged them to 
be ready at a specified time with their tools and implements 
of trade. At this stage of preparation, a new difficulty pre- 
sented itself. As before remarked, Denn was in straightened 
circumstances, and tire settlement could not be effected Avith- 
out adequate means and provision for the purpose. There 
were horses to be used in transporting Sarah and the house- 
hold goods from the " water side " at New Windsor to the 
destined location, with provisions to subsist the colony for ;■ 
shorter or longer period. Cows also were to be purchased for 
the daily and personal convenience of all, and where were 
they to be had ? Beside these, a boat of sufficient magnitude; 
to convey the voyagers with their luggage up to IJfew Wind- 
sor, the place of debarkation, was all essential, which was 
beyond his limited means, and utterly unattainable by him. 
Having exhausted himself in providing what he could, he 
obeyed the injunction "then to call upon Hercules ,J and 
forthwith made application to the owners of the patent, 
whose interest in the matter was as deep and extensive as 
his, and, to his great joy and satisfaction, it was crowned 
with success. 

The boat, with men to man her, horses, cows and dogs, 
with such articles of house Ice. ping and farming implements 
as were wanted to complete the outfit, were promised to be 
ready and forthcoming at the appointed time. The expe- 
dition with which all this was settled upon, arranged and 



460 TOWNS OF GOSHEN 



executed, reflects no small share of credit upon Christopher 
and Madam Denn and Sarah: The evening of the second 
day witnessed its accomplishment, by which time they were 
collected and ready at the ferry stairs on the west side of the 
town, in progress of embareation. As this portion of our 
narrative was derived from Sarah in after life, we propose to 
place an inventory of the various articles of outfit before the 
reader, that he may judge of its nature, extent and value — 
which was as follows : 

Two pack horses with bells on, two milk cows with bells, two dogs, two 
Irish brahams, one spade, two pails, two beds and bedding, one small and 
one larger pot, one small and one larger kettle, wood trenchers and bowls, 
candlesticks and candles, a pair of trammels, a frying pan, small tin plates 
for sancers, coffee pot with coffee, teapot, chocolate, tin canister with tea, 
silver tea spoons and sugar tongs, small China tea cups and saucers, bun- 
dle of cloths, saddle bags, pillow saddle, knives and forks, some potatoes, 
wallets, medical cordials in vials, refined sugar in small pieces, brown sugar 
in rolls, flour, biscuit, ham in small sacks, some trinkets, ribbons and small 
knives for the Indians. 

There may have been other articles not enumerated. 

The boat being ready, and the stock and furniture with the 
carpenters, dogs, Indians and Irish brahams all aboard before 
Sarah stepped in, Christopher Denn, as he stood on the 
ferry stairs, found it not in his heart to let her leave — com- 
mitted as she was about to be to the care of the uncertain el- 
ements, and the equally uncertain guardianship of her pro- 
fessed Indian friends — without a parting word of consolation 
and encouragement. The sun had rolled down his course, 
the shades of evening were gathering, and night was letting 
down her curtain from the skies. The strange nature of the 
mission, the object to ht accomplished, the apparent feeble, 
ness, nay, absolute weakness of the agents and means em- 
ployed, the separation of friends, the commitment of a frail, 
tender and bleating lamb to the untamed lions of the forest, 
the surge of the Hudson, as it rolled its tide against the frame 
work they stood on, the night coming on with uncertain as- 
pect — all appealed to the feelings, and shed a solemn gloom 
of foreboding evil over the j Arties. The man in Denn's sit- 
uation who could have remained unaffected and unmoved 
would have been a brute. In a subdued voice and tones of 
affectionate regard, he said, " Sarah, you have been kind 
and dutiful to us thus far, and your present conduct confirms 
us in your kindness. The duty you have to perform is new 
and may be fatiguing ; but must, if possible, be accomplished 
now, or the season may be lost. The workmen will take care 




HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 461 

of you while on the boat and afterwards ; while the Indians, 
of whose friendship I have no doul>t, will guide you through 
the woods to the place selected for our dwelling. The work 
is very important, and what you now do for Madam Denn 
and me, is also done for the benefit of the company. You 
shall be rewarded according to promise, and still more fully 
compensated. You will be taken to New Windsor, and 
from thence conveyed on horseback to the settlement, and 
we will meet you there as soon as we possibly can, in the 
course of five or six weeks at farthest. Be of good cheer, 
and we hope no accident will befall you." 

Then taking her hand, he and Madam Denn embraced her 
in silence. Tears blocked up the passages of utteran.ce, and 
nothing was heard save "God speed and protect you, Sarah." 
As she stepped into the boat, crowded and jammed in with 
men, Indians, animals and t ther various lading, it fell off 
from the dock, and a favorable breeze wafted them up the 
river, and soon they were out of sight of the city. We shall 
not increase the length of oiu narrative, by describing the 
sensations, thoughts and sayings of the parties, nor of the 
voyage itself, further than to say that it was short and pros- 
perous, and that towards the evening of the next day, they 
ran their boat on the beach at New Windsor, there being no 
dock there at the time. There they dropped anchor and 
spent the night on board, and long before the sun had left his 
eastern couch, in the early gray of the morning, they disem- 
barked on the sands of the beach. Soon all was noise and 
confusion in the arrangements preparatory to starting, and 
taking up the line of march, they plunged as it were into the 
very depths of the forest. The closes, released from confine- 
ment, ran and leaped about, barked at any and every thing, 
and played around in the plenitude of joy. The cattle also, 
freed from unusual restraint, and having fed upon dry 
provender during the winter, in their inclination to graze 
upon the tender vegetables springing up in all directions, 
were wild and uncontrollable. The season was the month 
of May. The Indians, not the least interesting objects in 
this new and exciting drama of real life, stood as stolid and 
indifferent to the moving panorama, as the trees by which 
they were surrounded, and only moved at the request of Sarah, 
or the authority of the white men. 

The reader will observe that (wo horses and two cows were 
the only ways and means provided to transport Sarah, all 
the provisions, household utensils, farming instruments and 
other articles, and therefore the crisis called into requisition 



462 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

the best judgment and nicest calculation of the parties, in the 
matter of arrangement and stowage. To have a true idea 
of the exciting nature of the scene, the noise, turmoil and 
bustle, with the real difficulties which at this time engaged 
the attention of the parties, tbe reader must place himself at 
Cairo, in Egypt, and leisurely observe the arrangements of 
some caravan of merchants, traders and others, preparatory 
to its departure, to cross tbe desert ofZahara to the distant 
city of Tombucto. True, this was on a less magnificent scale 
than the one referred to, yet the parties, the dangers of the 
journey, the mode of transportation, the ocean of waving 
forest to be passed, were all of tbe same general character with 
it. But we hasten on the arrangements of our small and in- 
teresting caravan, that it may leave tbe "water side of the 
Highlands,'' and move towards its destination. 

When tbe cows were landed their neck-bells were unstop- 
ped, having been silenced while on board the boat, and this 
loosening of their clappers added their eternal "ding dong 
bell" to the already opened mouth yelpings of the dogs, a 
music then began which never ceased during the march. 

Some of the sacks, beds, bedding, &c. were strapped down 
on the necks and backs of the cattle, which were placed un- 
der the direction and responsibility of the youngest of the 
three Indians, tbe management of which, required the least 
judgment but the most activity. The horses were next la- 
dened and disposed of. Their bells remained around their 
necks with their clappers stopped, only to be loosened when 
turned out to roam at large in the woods. One of these, we 
might say, was loaded up and loaded down with bags of pro- 
visions, housdhold utensils, instruments of agriculture, pots, 
kettles, bowls, trenchers, &c, and placed in possession of the 
oldest and strongest Indian, to lead and take charge of. The 
other horse was encumbered and lumbered up chiefly with 
the lightest baggage, such as a bed and bedding, with as ma- 
ny other small articles as were demanded by the crisis. Su- 
peradded to these was Sarah, seated on the very pinacle of 
the mass, and placed under her direction, while the third In- 
dian was to be ever ready at her side as a guard, in case of 
need, to lead her horse and help her on and off, as circum- 
stances and the nature of the route might require. The hor- 
ses thus furnished will remind the reader of tbe camels,, those 
"ship's of the desert," when loaded up with Arabs and 
members of the family, tent-poles, wafer bags, fowls, &c. to 
be conveyed from one green spot to another, on the wide bo- 
som of the African desert. The white men travelled on foot. 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 463 

and were next to Sarah in the line of march, the bearers of 
their own tools, and held a general supervision over the 
movements and conduct of the whole. Anything short of 
this last arrangement, would not have been satisfactory to our 
young heroine, in quieting her fears on entering the forest 
home of her Indian guides. 

The reader will observe the order of the caravan as it took 
its departure from the shore of the Hudson and clear lands 
of the "waterside," to move up the steep assent at New 
Windsor, and gain the bights above, and then wind its way 
to a new and forest home in the heart of Wawayanda. 

First, and at the head of the moving column, was the divi- 
sion of cows, under the immediate direction of the young In- 
dian. Unused to exact order, they marched forward some- 
what in open and straggling ranks, like the military move- 
ments of raw reciuits ; while the ceaseless gingle of their bells 
broke in upon the before unbroken silence of the extensive 
woods. As this was the pioneer corps, much depended on 
its judicious conduct. The Indian was armed with the spa 
and axe, and his duty in addition was, to clear away the ob- 
structions from the line of march, sound wet spots and mirey 
places, brooks, &c.^ so as to insure the safe passage of his di- 
vision, and impart confidence to those in the rear. 

Next in order "with dignified step and slow," moved the 
first pack horse in charge of the strong Indian, bearing the 
eatables and heavy household utensils, &c. The conduct 
and well being of this division, was of equal interest with tha* 
of the first, for it conveyed the subsistence and family com- 
forts of the whole, till relieved by the friendly hand of Chris- 
topher Denn, or the wild game of the forest. 

Sarah, in anxious thought, communing with herself, seat- 
ed in melancholy mood, high up on her stately quadruped, 
like some eastern Nobless on high born Elephant, moved 
next, while the third Indian, as her faithful footman, leaped 
with the velocity of an out rider, along the pathway of her 
march and around her person. Deeply aware of the magni- 
tude of the trust, he divided his attention between the horse 
and its rider, both of which his eye apparently never left. 

The white men ladened with back and hand luggage, 
trudged along close in upon Sarah's horse, with feelings not 
fully at ease, as they left the water side, the extreme verge of 
civilization, to commit themselves to the uncertain dangers 
* of the wild woods, and the tender mercies of the red men 
who tenanted them, and from whose unthreaded l&barynth 
there might be no escape. 



464 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

The two faithful dogs, as best under the command of the 
white man, whose language they could understand, and 
would most readily obey, were kept in the rear, and prevent- 
ed as much as possible from wandering abroad in pursuit of 
game, and hushed to silence by (heir keepers. 

Thus arranged, the moving column, as best it could, under 
the novelty of its situation, began the march, and wound its 
way up the steep assent of the river bank, and then into the 
wilderness. By this time the sun was well up in the heavens, 
and as if to cheer the travellers and speed them on, threw 
down his golden beams among the shrubs and trees of the 
forest, upon the springing grass and tender leaves. The 
reader can imagine far better than we describe, the moving 
scene now in progress before him. The manner of progress 
from time to time, the incidents of the day, &c, we shall not 
attempt to disclose, lest, from the poverty of the facts which 
have come down to us by tradition, and the comparative si- 
lence of the notes from which we draw our narrative, we 
might be induced to supply them from fancy, which our pro- 
mise to the reader and the nature of our paper forbid. 

We are authorised however to say that as the caravan took 
up the line of march, the boatmen, ever kind hearted and 
feeling as they are brave, showered upon them good wishes 
for a safe and successful journey. All that poor Sarah could 
respond was a glance of the eye and a gentle inclination of 
the head, for she was in the keeping of her feelings; and 
tears robbed her of utterance. The reality of her lonely and 
desolate condition, flashed suddenly upon her mind, and she 
felt as if her fate was sealed. Capture, secretion in the wil- 
derness, far from those loved ones she had left behind, and 
regarded as parents, torture, violation, death, all in quick 
and fearful array came up in vision, and she saw herself 
marching in solemn mockery to self immolation. Stouter 
hearts than that of Sarah Wells, an inexperienced girl, have 
quailed before a condition of things less dangerous and fright- 
ful than that, and made them weak as children. But as she 
rode on, the paroxysm of feeling which for the instant over- 
whelmed her, like some threatening cloud dissipated by the 
wind, soon passed off, and with it the horrid train of antici- 
pated dangers, and she restored to her native energy of mind 
and buoyancy of spirits. Perhaps the grotesque appearance 
of the caravan, the harsh voices of the Indians, the ceaseless 
"ding dong bell" of the cattle, the loud whooping and hal- 
looing of the men, the difficulty in governing her horse, and 
the barking and yelping of the dogs, were in themselves so 



HAMPTONBURGK AND CHESTER. 466 

novel and exciting to a youthful mind, that they contributed 
in part to restore the maiden to her senses. However it was, 
the pang was as momentary in duration as intense in feeling. 
We are further authorised to say, that the Indians conduct- 
ed themselves and discharged their respective duties in the 
most satisfactory manner, and especially the one who waited 
upon the person of Sarah. He was respectful and really po- 
lite during the whole of the fatiguing journey. He march- 
ed close by her side, helped her off and on her horse andpoint- 
ed out many things in the woods calculated to interest her 
attention and draw her out in conversation. Not unfrequent- 
\y he plucked an early flower as it sprang up by the way 
side, and calling her attention to it, tasted its leaves and then 
presented for acceptance. Of all the facts stated in this sim- 
ple narative, no one is so interesting and touching as this, for 
it vies with the most refined exhibition of politeness in civil- 
ized society. As they passed along through the forest, the 
vmall members of the feathered tribe, frightened by the un- 
usual noise, flitted quickly and silently away from the line of 
march. The woodpecker seated upon some decayed branch 
of an aged tree, plied rapidly his iron bill and made the 
woods resoiwid with noisy industry. The raven, sagacious 
bird, with elongated neck, bent his beak towards the moving 
train, in suspicion flapped his wings, and as he flew, in 
friendly admonition of danger, screamed "caw, caw, caw." 

Thus they proceeded on without accident or other impor- 
tant incident, with which to garnish our paper, till the sun 
had withdrawn his beams from the woodlands, and the shades 
f eight began to close in around them, when, happily, they 
arrived on the bank of the stream, now called the Otterkili, 
..site the spot, which Christopher Denn had selected as 
the place of his residence. Thus the journey of full twenty 
►athless forest, with occasional thick underwood, 
performed in a single day, and the travellers in safety 
at the end of it. 

Upoa the bank of the stream which separated them from 
the swot to which they journeyed, under the branches of a 
wide spreading beach they encamped for the night. A fire 
was, instantly kindled beneath the tree, which, with the 
branches guarded them from the dampness and unhealthy 
dews. The .horses were unloosed, their bells unstopped, and 
turned out to graze for the n:ght. The cattle were permit- 
Led to take care of themselves in the same way, The men 
having seen rattle snakes and other reptiles of various kinds 
during the day, judged it prudent to spread their coaches for 

2D 



466 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

the night upon the boughs of trees placed upon slicks, laid 
upon crotches driven into the ground. This arrangement 
kept them up from the earth, and made them easier to rest 
on by a little sag and elasticity. The fatigue of the journey 
and the unusual excitement for several previous days, soon 
induced sleep, which apparently wrapped them all in forget- 
fulness. The scream of the panther and the more distant 
howl of the wolf-dog, as they prowled around the place of 
encampment, broke not the slumbers of the white men. The 
solemn tones of the bells of the animals, as they wandered 
and grazed along the lonely banks of the Otterkill, were 
alike ineffectual and noiseless. They slept hard and irregu- 
lar, as if in the struggles of death, or pressed down by an in- 
cubus, heavy as the hills of Wawayanda. Not so with Sa- 
rah and. the Indians. The latter now safe at home, along 
their native streams and vallies, threw themselves upon the 
ground with their feet to the fire and seemed to slumber thro' 
the night, though they never slept. The howl of the wolf, 
the screech of the night owl, the murmuring whispers of the 
stream as it flowed past, were all heard by them, and drank 
in as delicious music of the forest. The slumbers of Sarah 
were deep and fitful by turns. At one moment in her dreams, 
she was seated by Madam Denn, relating the incidents oi 
the journey, and slept as sweetly and softly as an infantin 
its cradle. Soon, she saw an Indian with stealthy step ap- 
proach her couch ; then again he was .standing over her with 
the implements of death upraised, ready to strike the fatal 
blow, and the deep agony of the vision would affrighten and 
wake her. At such times her Indian footman was sure to 
quiet her fears, letting her know by speech or otherwise that 
he was awake, guarding" her slumbers and heard her scream. 
Thus Sarah passed the night, alternately in her dreams, 
crowned witli joys or haunted with terrors. 

Long before the sun had risen, in the early dawn of the 
morning, which promised a day of unusual beauty, the 
members of the encampment were abroad and ready for the 
business of the day, which was to end their wanderings, and 
place some of them in a comfortable resting place. Some re- 
kindled the fire to prepare a hasty meal, while others cut 
and gathered pieces of light-dry wood, and in a short time 
launched a raft, ready for transportation across the stream. 
It'is proper to remark, that this being the spring of the year, 
when streams were fullest with water, and the lands along 
the banks of this one overflowed — its course impeded and 
gorged 'up in places by brush and sunken timber, it was 






HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 467 

deeper and wider than at present and not so easily forded. 

The workmen, with some of the Indians, passed the stream 
on the raft, and commenced the settlement of Wawa- 
yanda, by felling trees to erect a wigwam. Sarah was left 
in charge of the goods and encampment, with directions 
from the workmen to see that the Indians forded over the 
horses and cattle, and with her assistance to ferry over the 
goods and chattels during the day, preparatory to being car- 
ried to the wigwam when ready to receive them. This shi- 
very willingly undertook to accomplish ; for in the employ- 
ment, she would find relief from the unpleasant feelings 
which still hung around and haunted her mind. In this way 
all the parties were actively engaged in forwarding to com- 
pletion the grand object of their mission ; and before the orb 
of day had withdrawn his golden beams from the forest and; 
buried them in the west, the log hut was finished and ready 
for. the reception of Sarah and her household goods, where, 
with little order and much haste, they were carried and de- 
posited. While some were thus engaged in transporting 
the goods, others were kindling up and renewing by frequent 
additions, a large and blazing fire in the centre of the build- 
ing, to dry out the moisture of the green timbers, and which, 
at the same time, would furnish the means to procure the 
evening meal, made pressingly necessary by the frequent 
fastings of the previons days. Sarah, when she looked into, 
her new abode, and saw the flames ascending to the very roof, 
and the smoke densely filling the building, and issuing in a 
black volume through an aperture in the top, filling the at- 
mosphere around as with a heavy fog, she thought they were 
about to burn up in a moment, what they had been the whole 
day in erecting. But on expressing her apprehensions she 
was set. right in the matter, and satisfied of the propriety and 
careful nature of the act. 

On taking possession of this wigwam, a point was made by 
the Indians, that Sarah should enter it first, otherwise it 
would be an unfortunate residence for the owners. As this 
act of precedence was easily performed by her, and was to be 
ominous of good to herself and patrons, she respectfully ac- 
quiesced in the arrangement, and entered the dwelling before 
any of the goods were deposited. The wildest superstition 
may have had something to do with this novel idea; but no 
matter at this day, the act was an indirect appeal at least to. 
One, who could bless this humble cot. of the forest, with 
its cruise of oil, and all who fed from, it. We honor the 
act, and while wc record it, we are. not ashamed to ack - 



468 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

nowledge that it gently and agreeably touches our feelings- 
The comforts of the dogs, those faithful creatures, were not 
forgotten, for the Indians put up a kennel for them adjoin- 
ing the cabin. Wonderful is the instinct, fidelity and kind- 
ness of this animal ! He dies of love for his master, what 
true lover can do more ? 

Description of Wigwam. 

The reader perhaps would be gratified to inspect this first 
erection on the patent of Wawayanda, and learn how it was 
put together, then view the furniture, and look over the ta- 
ble as it stood in preparation for the evening meal. We will 
gratify his curiosity, premising this remark, that, that rude 
structure, erected in a single day by a few laborers in the 
midst of a wilderness, in the great economy of peopling and 
settling the earth, in point of enlarged utility and beneficial 
result, far exceeded the costliest Pyramid of Egypt, erected 
through the reigns of many successive Kings, by the toil and 
blood oi thousands on the fertile plains of the Nile. One was 
the busy, virtuous abode of the living, and sheltered the 
mother of a numerous race, the other, was but the cold se- 
pulchre of a tyrant dead. 

The hut was nearly square, 16 by 18 feet, and constructed 
thus : At the corners and sides, boles were dug into the 
ground and crotches set in them to serve as posts in an ordi- 
nary framed house. Poles were then laid round in the 
orotches to serve as plates, and fastened together with wood 
pins, made on the spot. A gutter was then excavated round 
outside the crotches, to receive the moisture in time of rain or 
in damp weather. In these gutters palasades split out of logs 
were set up on end, leaning inwards and against the poles in 
the crotches, and by hewing them, made to lit as close as 
possible against each other. Outside of all and opposite each 
other, at the ends of the building, two other crotches, higher 
than the palasades and crotches, were erected to hold the 
ridge pole, which determined the bight and pitch of the roof 
which leaned against it. The roof was composed of poles, 
brush and bark pealed from the trees they had felled to split 
the palasades. The fire place was in the centre of the cabin, 
and the pots and kettles hung upon chains and trunnels sus- 
pended from a pole laid on two crotches. The smoke issued 
through a hole three feet square in the cone of the roof, which 
served for a sky light. The reader doubtless could now go 
to work and construct one equally elegant and commodious. 
It is being done every day in the now settling regions of the 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 469 

West. When the smoke had well cleared off and the atmos 
phere of the building so thinned as to be transparent,Sarah's 
comment upon it was, "what a hole to huddle in and spend 
a night in bad weather." 

The furniture was of a piece with the structure, and in 
good keeping and harmony with it. Among the articles 
were wood bowls and trenchers, of various workmanship anci 
manufacture. The table was a large log some six or eigh; 
feet long, and well flatted off at the upper surface. In one 
corner of the cabin, holes were bored through the palasades. 
in which small timbers were inserted some two feet long, ex- 
tending into the room and supported at the ends by uprights, 
upon which split slabs rested and constituted the fixed kitch 
en table and cubboard. The same kind of fixtures were in 
the other corners, and served for bedsteads ; but in place oi 
slabs, poles and brush were substituted as softer and more 
elastici A long slab standing on peg feet, the only apology 
for, and representative of a chair, was intended to seat the 
members of the family. Though this was neither stylish nor 
very fashionable in the higher town and city circles, yet in 
the family arrangement, it was comfortable, friendly and so- 
cial. There were several other articles of furniture and 
housekeeping enumerated in the inventory, which the read- 
er may observe in different parts of the room, waiting as it 
were to be assigned to a proper location. 

We departed from the straight thread of our narrative, af- 
ter the wigwam was taken possession of, to make this dis- 
cription, to which we now return. 

The Indians were dispatched to drive up the cows, for 
"baughten time was near my Joe." As the settlement was 
the joint work of the parties, the preparation of the evening 
meal, after the excitements and labor of the day, was no ex- 
ception ; for each one seemed alive to the occasion, and anx- 
ious to try his inexperience upon a subject so desperate and 
difficult to get up, with the limited means at their command. 
Tiie workmen over rejoiced at the early completion of the 
building, proclaimed aloud that they must have something 
"choice and rare to handsel the new wigwam." As the work 
progressed, all were actively and zealously engaged. Some 
untied the sacks of flour, ham, crackers, &c, determined that 
the meal should be as extensive as their provisions would ad- 
mit. Others opened the beds and unrolled the bedding, to 
discover the secret deposit of china and other brittle wares. 
Wood bowls and trenchers were called into requisition, and 
the small tin plates set round in order on the table to garnish 



470 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

it and be used as coffee cups. The grains of coffee were 
roasting - , the ham frying, the cakes baking", the potatoes 
boiling. Small rolls of brown sugar were produced, found 
secreted in the coffee pot; knives and forks rolled up in the 
bed clothes; salt, pepper, spices and ribbons in an iron pot; 
soap and candles in a leather wallet, &c. While prepara- 
tions indoors were in this stage of forward execution, the In- 
dians drove up the cows which added their noisy presence to 
the exciting scene, and some one drew off their milk. As the 
various articles of an eatable or table character were found 
among the piles of small luggage, they received their ap- 
propriate destination, by being transferred according to the 
taste of the agent to the moveable log table. In the midst of 
this animated arrangement and preparation of the table, the 
bounty and true excellence of which an epicurian or real 
gormand might have envied, two of the Indians were out- 
side of the door, who being quick of sight and hearing, espied 
two persons on horseback approaching from the south. Not 
knowing the persons of the visitors, nor the character of the 
mission, they ran off like wild deer to meet them and learn 
who they were, when lo ! they proved to be Christopher and 
Madam Denn. The first inquiry was, "where is Sarah, and 
is she well?" the answer was, "well,'' and the Indians lead- 
ing the way, they rode on to the cabin door. In the mean- 
time, Sarah, though deeply busied in the domestic arrange- 
ments of her new dwelling, thought she heard a known voice, 
which came to her soft as a whisper from an elf of the forest ; 
but thinking herself deceived, moved not from her employ- 
ment." In an instant, however, hearing her name more dis- 
tinctly pronounced, she ran to the door, beheld her parental 
guardians, and at the moment, overwhelmed with joy and 
surprise at the phantom or reality, fell in a swoon at the post 
of the doorway. 

Though blessed with great energy and vigor of character, 
and a (low of spirits equal to most females, they all fled from 
her on this occasion, and left her lifeless at the feet of her 
friends. But. Nature, a wise physician and kind restorer, 
quickly rallied the maiden at the fountain of life, and in a 
few moments Sarah arose to fall upon the breast of her 
mother; and there, like a child in the transports of joy, 
laughed and wept, and wept and laughed again. The scene 
was so novel and unexpected, that even the stolid and self- 
possessed sons of the forest were excited, and looked upon it 
as if touched in their feelings. Instances, we believe, are 
not wanting, in which the Indians, especially the females. 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 47J 

have shown as much tried friendship and true love, as are 
usually found in a state of high civilization and refinement. 

When the feelings of the parties were restored to a proper 
tone. Madam Denn inquired of Sarah, how she had been 
and her success in getting there, which were answered with 
truth and promptitude, referring her at the same time, to the 
new cabin they had erected, and to the half prepared pro- 
visions for the evening meal, which she begged leave to 
complete for the comfort of Mr. and Madam Denn. 

The tradition in this vicinity and among the family des- 
cendents of William Bull and Sarah Wells, from the earliest 
settlement of the town of Goshen down to this day, is that 
" Sarah Wells was the first civilized white woman, and 
Madam Denn the second, who placed a foot upon that part 
of the patent of Wawayanda, which laid in the town of Go- 
shen !" How this came about we have now explained. We 
are aware that there is a tradition also, which has come 
down to the present time, through a reputable course of des- 
cent, that there was at an early period, and at the time the 
corps of surveyors ran out the patent, a woman in their em- 
ploy as a cook and housekeeper, who went with them from 
station to station, and occupied the cabins of which we spok^ 
in the early part of this article, and that the one in which 
she continued to reside after the patent was run out and the 
surveyors had left, was nearly opposite to that erected by 
Christopher Denn, and on the other side of the Otter Kill. — 
We admit there was such an erection there, and tenanted loo 
by a woman during the residue of her life, such as is pointed 
to by the tradition, but deny that she was there before Sarah 
and Madam Denn, and that her cabin was erected before 
that of Christopher Denn. On this question of priority, and 
as connected with the early settlement of the patent, it is 
proper to state, that after Denn had located and erected his 
new double log house, which was shortly after the wigwam 
was put up, as previously stated, the surveyors were engaged 
completing the running out of the patent into small lots or 
divisions among the owners. This, as we are told by an old 
surveyor well acquainted with the surveys and their dates, 
was not earlier than 1715, extending down perhaps as late 
as 1720, during which time the house in question was erect- 
ed, with others of the same character. The fact that DennV 
house was there, on one end of the patent, was the reason 
why the other one was put up in the vicinity, and why that 
woman elected to reside there. Doubtless, there were sev- 
eral others in various places on the patent, but which soon 



472 towns or goshen, 

went into decay by non-using. This woman lived to a great. 
age, which contributed to preserve hers. 

The Results of Settlement. 

By this tune the shades of night, like a murkey and sol- 
emn gloom, had enveloped the cabin, and the light of its fee- 
ble taper, like some lonely but friendly star, threw its mai- 
den and modest rays upon the wilderness of Wawayanda.— 
That group of civilized and uncivilized individuals, of gen- 
tle and simple, the representatives of nature on the one hand. 
and of high civilization and art on the ether, as they sat in a 
!og cabin in the midst of the wilderness, doubly shrouded in 
darkness by the trees of the forest and the gloom of the night, 
was one of the most interesting collections of individuals, ever 
gathered together in the old town of Goshen. 

The presence and maiden energy of Sarah Wells were soon 
followed by the footsteps of thousands — the sound of flic 
woodman's axe, as it resounded along the silent banks of the 
Otterkill and through the vallies and hill-tops of Wawayan- 
da, was soon succeeded by the multiplied blows of the hardy 
settlers, as they came in and planted their dwellings. The 
clearings made by Denn opened the thick foliage of the for- 
est, and the sun in noontide glory lit up and warmed it b\ 
the blaze of his beams — the furrows which followed his 
ploughshare, marked out the boundaries of a thousand loca- 
tions, upon which frugal industry, with her thrifty hand- 
maids, garnered up wealth and reveled in domestic happi- 
ness. The seed then cast into the virgin soil, vegetated, 
grew up, ripened and has since been widely disseminated 
over the broad, rich bosom of the patent, and now gracefully 
waves in every passing breeze. The offspring of the cattle, 
which at that early day, grazed among the wild herbage in 
the shade of the forest, and slacked their thirst, in the gentle 
waters of the stream as it flowed on, kissing the gay flowers 
which adorned its banks, are now seen to wander and heard 
to low on a thousand hills — the red men of the woodlands 
have departed, and the cultivated, indomitable children of 
Shem possess their dwellings. The fires of the war-dance 
and wigwam are extinguished, and Christian temples as they 
send up their tall spires to heaven, are lit up by the mild and 
benignant beams of the Gospel. 

The descendents of Sarah, the maid of Wawayanda, like 
the stately primeval trees of the forest, are found every where 
in the county, adorning the variegated walks of life, while 
the virfuous conduct and industrious habits of the earlv set 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 473 

tiers generally, their good sound sense and native integrity, 
are still observable and prominent in the long and numerous 
line of their descendents. But we forbear, and the reader 
will please to finish the picture, by the introduction of such 
figures as may suit his pencil. 

Dennis Excuse. 

We remarked in an early part of this article, that we were 
uninformed of the reason why Christopher and Madam Denn 
did not accompany Sarah to make the settlement, and how 
they could consent to send her alone to do it, under all the 
circumstances of the case. Denn's intention as expressed on 
the ferry stairs at parting was, that he would proceed and 
join her whenever the workmen should complete the cabin, 
return to the city and inform him of it. Why we do not know, 
but this settlement and departure from the city was a kind 
of secret affair. Perhaps it was, that Denn being in failing 
circumstances, the articles of outfit might have been liable to 
seizure and his person not safe from arrest when out of the 
city. It is possible, that in as much as they had been per- 
sons of some wealth and distinction, they could not sacrifice 
their pride and feelings to perform so humble and undignifi- 
ed an act. We fear, if the truth could be known, that the 
whole transaction was so contrived, hastened, managed and 
executed, as to excite no suspicions in the minds of his friends 
and creditors, if it should happen to leak out that he was 
about to leave the city. This is our suspicion, inferred from 
the whole transaction, though we do not wish to be censori- 
ous, or cast a shade upon his conduct and want of feeling, in 
exposing an orphan girl under his authority and protection, 
to the dangers of such a mission. 

But let him speak for himself, we will not condemn with- 
out a hearing, for his statement is calculated to leave an 
agreeable impression of his conduct and intention. He in- 
formed Sarah, that when he committed her with the cattle, 
Indians and household goods to the boat, he thought but 
little more of her than he did of them — that he was elated 
with the hopeful nature of the expedition and speedy accom- 
plishment of a settlement, of which he had no doubt, from her 
known character for energy, obedience and execution, if her 
health should be spared and no accident intervened to pre- 
vent her — that it was with such hopes and feelings excited 
by the prospect, he and Madam Denn returned from the 
dock to their dwelling. It was then dark, and on lighting 
candles and looking round the room all was lonely and silent. 



474 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

Sarah, the only cricket that played and chirped on the health 
stone was gone, her innocent life perhaps sacrificed at his 
bidding, to save himself from executing so mean an office. — 
His conscience told him he had practised a fraud upon her. 
and that he and Madam Denn ought to have accompanied 
her, shared the dangers of the river and forest, assumed the 
control and responsibility of the affair. That they were 
smitten with remorse for what they had done, and that night, 
before they retired to rest, determined to make immediate 
amends for their past conduct, by joining her soon as pos- 
sible on the patent. If his representations are entitled to 
credit, he informed her that the night she left, his sleep was 
disturbed and uneasy, being broken in upon by horrible 
dreams of accidents on the water and in the wilderness, that 
he had lost his character as a humane and prudent man, and 
gained that of a savage and brutal murderer. 

The result was, that they left their uneasy couch before the 
sun arose from his, and began to execute their determination. 
They made known their intention to their friends, who kind- 
urnished them the means for conveyance. They crossed 
over to the Jersey shore and with all expedition made then 
way by land, on horseback, through the highlands. The 
first day's ride brought them to the falls of the Ramapo, 
re they lodged in a hut for the night. Karly in the morn- 
ing the, journey was resumed and they threaded a winding 
way through the vallies and an ong the hills and mountains 
of Wawayanda, till they reached what is now called Sugar- 
loaf mountain, where there was an Indian village. Their 
they made the necessary inquiries if any thing was known or 
heard of Sarah Wells, a white woman, with a party of white 
men and Indians, but nothing was learned of them. They 
rode on to Rombout's, one of the Chiefs who granted the pat- 
ent, and there on inquiry they were equally unsuccessful. . 

From there the journey was conducted with all possible 
speed, with a view to reach the residence of the parents of 
some of the young Indians who composed the party before 
dark, and there spend the night, which was but a mile or two 
from the selected location, and then continue the search in 
the, morning. Thinking it possible however, that the settlers 
might have arrived at the place of destination, and the sun 
still above the horizen, they concluded to take a circuit round 
and visit the place before putting up for the night. Approx- 
imating the Otterkill at a rift where they found it fordable, 
they crossed the stream, and on nearing the place of settle- 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 475 

ment were discovered by the young Indians as previously 
related. 

Christopher Demi on concluding this explanation of his 
conduct and adventure, again thanked Sarah for what she 
had done for him and the patentees, complimented all on 
their expedition and success in rearing (he wigwam, and pre- 
sented four blankets, upon which they had ridden, to the In- 
dians for their services to him and their kindness to Sarah. — 
The three, with the father of one of them, who had been to 
the city, received a blanket each, and they were all invited 
to remain and spend the night in the cabin, and enjoy the 
luxury of their new presents, which they cheerfully consent- 
ed to do. 

While Sarah continued to reside with Denn and before her 
marriage, the only road from there to New Windsor, was a 
footpath through the woods, without a solitary log cabin to 
cheer the traveller through that distance. The comforts and 
necessaries of life were few indeed, and of luxuries, there 
were none. The grain, of which there was very little, wus 
pounded in a morter of some kind to be converted into 'oread, 
for they knew of no flour null in the county. There may 
have been one at Peenpack, in Deerpark, but that was at a 
great distance, and to it, there was not even a foot path 
through the wildernes.s. The nearest known mill was at the 
mouth of the Fishkill, in Dutchess county ; and when they 
had grinding done the grain was taken there. There b< 
no roads, the grain was loaded up on horses, in bags, and 
transported to and from, the distance of twenty miles each 
way. Often and often, d.d this girl rise at. midnight in the 
heart of Wawayanda, while the wild cat and wolf were, still 
abroad, and with no guardian except a faithful dog, wind her 
solitary and lonely way with her sacks of grain to the "water 
side" at New Windsor, there leave her horse, borrow a boat 
and with her own young hands, paddle it and cargo to the 
mill, and back again to New Windsor. Here the flour was 
placed upon the horse, and Sarah retraced the long and wea- 
ry way to her home in the forest. What female, even a 
servant, can say the present times are hard? It maybe 
asked by the reader, How could she do these things? The 
answer is found in the following facts : 

As before remarked, she was probably in the habit of 
transacting a market business for Denn, from Staten Island 
to New York in an open boat, and may have thus habituated 
herself to the oar. This, at least, accustomed her to the 
water, and robbed it of danger in her view. While at home. 



476 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

.she was in the habit of wandering through the woods farthei 
and farther from time to time in company with her dog, and 
this accustomed her to the dangers of the forest. Add to 
this, a mind naturally fearless of danger, with great buoy- 
ancy of spirit, bold determination and self-reliance — and all 
of them contributed to fit the maiden's mind to traverse the 
wild woods of Wawayanda by day and night, and drive her 
boat across the Hudson, with the practiced skill and fearless 
grace of the " Lady of the Lake." 

The last time she returned from mill she was belated, and 
when about six miles from New Windsor, the night being 
dark, the w 7 olves howled so loud and close around her, that 
she thought herself in personal danger. To escape from 
them, she rode under the brandies of a tree, tied her horse to 
one of them, and from the back of the horse mounted into 
the top of the tree. There she spent the night, often " wish- 
ing for the day " before the tardy sun left his eastern couch : 
who caine at last blushing like a maiden for his long delay. 
This cure:! her of all wild adventure of the kind. 

We now conclude this article of our paper by remarking, 
that we have made the historic narrative as brief and simple 
as possible, lest the reader might suppose we had drawn up- 
on our fancy for some of its leading facts; but we ass 
him, in all honesty, they are literally true, as we are in- 
structed by information which has come down to us upon a 
wide and deep stream of tradition, based on the statements of 
Sarah We! is. We could not — even in a case like this, which 
furnishes a large margin for our imagination and feelings i 
roam and wander abo''t ad libitum — forget that we were 
writing veritable history and not a work of fiction. 

We anticipate that many of our readers will condemn this 
portion of our paper, as long, tedious and personally unin- 
teresting- to them ; yet they will please to allow some space 
for a declaration of natural affection, and the payment of a 
debt of gratitude, too long withheld. 

Greycourt. — In 1716, there was a settlement made at 
Greycourt by Daniel Cromline, Esq. This gentleman, we 
believe, lived on Long Island, and in 1704, in company with 
several others, purchased out the interest of Philip Rockeby 
and Hendrick Tenyck in the patent of Wawayanda, and in 
the year first named, built what was known for a century 
afterwards, by the name of " the Grey Court House. " This 
was near Chester, on the north edge of the Greycourt mead- 
ows, and the farm on which it. was erected is now owned by 



I 

I 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 477 

Mr. Jesse Carpenter. We lament the demolition of these 
ancient structures, as they remind our citizens of their hardy 
and patriot ancestors, and constitute a valuable portion of t»he 
history of the county. The atone which bore the date of this 
building, marked " D. C. 1716. G. C." is preserved by 
being set in the west end of the old stone Bull house at 
Hamptonburgh. Without that date, it is one hundred to one, 
the time of the settlement, at Greycourt could not have been 
told. 

The circumstances under which this settlement was made 
and house built, are more particularly mentioned in the fol- 
lowing notice of 

William Bull. — This individual was born at Wolver- 
hampton, England, February 1689. In an account of this 
early settler we rely upon tradition and the statements of Sa- 
rah Wells, his wife, which were very generally known 
among his immediate descendents. When he was young, 
his father left England and located at Dublin, Ireland, where 
he was apprenticed to learn tne trade of a mason and stone 
cutter. During his minority we know nothing of him. — 
When his apprentiship ended, he with a young friend and 
fellow mason, contracted to build the arch of a large bridge, 
which was then in progress of erection in the vicinity of the 
city, and had they succeeded, it might have established their 
credit as good workmen and talented young men; but just 
as they were closing the arch aid finishing thejob, down 
it tumbled, and with it, the young and bright prospects of the 
venturesome builders. J 3 oil was overwhelmed by the unex- 
pected calamity, and feeling that future success there was 
hopeless, he at once determined to emigrate and build his 
fortune in America, w hich he had failed thus far to do in Ire- 
land. He mustered and counted up his money, which 
amounted to five Guineas, went down to the dock, and on 
board a passenger ship bound soon for New York, and en- 
quired of the officer on board, if five Guineas was sufficient, to 
pay his passage. The reply vas in the affimative, and he 
forthwith completed his arrangements to leave. Whentl.it.- 
time came, he embarked, hiving nothing to encumber him 
but his clothes, five Guineas, and a few books. When- the- 
ship arrived in port, Bull presented himself to the captain tc 
pay his five Guineas and ^o ashore ; but was told that it was 
not enough, and being informed it was all he had, replied 
that he must then be sold for the balance. Bull was very 
much incensed at the trick put on him by false information- 
in Ireland, and at the indignity so coolly about to be infheted 



478 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

upon him here, promptly told the officer that "he would not be 
sold, that he would abide by the ship and return to Ireland, 
and that if he had to be a servant it should be there and not 
in a strange land."' 

Misfortune had compelled him to leave his country, and 
now when about to realize his cherished hopes and anxious 
expectations, it was threatening to drive him back again, and 
he was in great, doubt what course to adopt. But in this 
case "his necessity was God's opportunity," who having 
mercifully held the winds in his hand during the voyage, 
now kindly interposed and sent unexpected relief in the per- 
son of a stranger. Just at this time Daniel Cromline, who 
.had an interest in the Wawayanda Patent, and was about to 
make a settlement thereon ; finding an Irish passenger ship 
in port and thinking that ho might procure some laborers 
and artizans there, went on board and made his wants known 
to the captain. Proclamation was matte throughout the ship, 
that there was a gentleman on board who wanted to employ 
some workmen and mechanics to settle anew country, and 
if there were any on board who were willing to engage, to 
come forward. The proclamation fell upon Bull like a rtfes- 
e from heaven, and he felt that he was at least cared for 
by God and strangers, and his heart was instantly filled with 
gratitude and hopes revived. He spoke and said, that he was 
an artizen and laborer, and bad left Ireland for America 
thinking he had money to pay his passage ; but that falling 
short and for the deficiency was about to be sold, which, he 
had refused to be, lie thought of returning, but if any gentle- 
man would advance the money, lie would undertake, should 
his health and life be spared, he should have no cause to re- 
gret the kindness. Cromline, pleased with his appearance, 
prompt and manly bearing, advanced the money and they 
left the ship together. 

Bull, in company with other workmen, soon went with 
Cromline upon the patent, to prepare to erect a dwelling and 
make a settlement. Bull executed the mason and others the 
carpenter work, and he cut the year of erection, 1716, in the 
stones of the chimney. The boards of the house were sawed 
by a whip in a sawpit, and the whole wood work fastened by 
wood pins in place of nails. This at the time, and for years 
afterwards, was the largest and best house from New Wind- 
sor to New Jersey. As it was on the travelled route leading 
into New Jersey it soon became of great notoriety, and being 
a public Inn was a place of resort for the country round. — 
This house was known as the "old Graycourt housed' and 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 47§ 

was about five miles south east from the log mansion of Chris- 
topher Denrij in Hamptonbnrgh. In our etymology of Gray- 
court we shall have occasion to refer to this house again. — 
The structure was honestly built, having stood as a tenement 
till 1832, about 116 years, which cannot be affirmed of any 
other in the county, except, the Bull stone house at Hamp- 
tonbnrgh. At that early day, and for years afterwards, the 
population was very sparse in that part of the county, and 
all living within a dozen miles of each other were near neigh- 
bors, and kept up an intimate and friendly intercourse. As 
Christopher Denn was a patentee and Daniel Cromline in- 
terested in the patent, both having made settlements and 
living within six miles of each other, it was natural and ex- 
pected that these families would often meet on the most 
friendly terms. Thus William Bull, who continued to live 
at the Cromline house, became acquainted with Sarah Wells, 
which ripencc! into love and eventuated in matrimony in the 
year 171S. The young people of that day had a great deal 
of business to do and their offers were sincerely and promptly 
made on the one side, and promptly and honestly accepted 
or rejected on the other. What they did was done quickly, 
as they had no time to spare, and consequently there were 
no courtships <jf seven years standing. Inclination and the 
demands of a new country forbade all tampering and procras- 
tination upon such business transactions. 

We will detain the reader, by asking him to step into the 
new double log house of Christopher and Madam Denn, and 
witness the marriage ceremony, Whethei male or female, 
old or young, they are unworthy to wear the bonds of Hv - 
men if they refuse the invitation. We know they will not, 
for it is not a matter of every day occurrence. 

Previous to this time courts of justice bad been established 
and a magistrate resided in the neighborhood, who was call- 
ed upon to perform the marriage ceremony, there being no 
priest to do it. Bull was an Episcopalian, and wished to be 
married according to the forms of that Church, but how were 
the bans to be published three limes, to make the contract 
valid. After long deliberation they concluded, that circum- 
stances altered cases, and that three proclamations made in 
one day, were as effectual for all purposes, as if they were 
made during three successive weeks. To test the principle 
and carry it out in practice, the guests being assembled and 
the bride and groom anxiously waiting to know how it was 
to be performed, the magistrate, with a solemnity de- 
manded by the occasion, took up the book of common pray- 



482 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

tained the evidence. The book, was a re-print in 1826 of an 
old work entitled, "The Life and Travels of Samuel Bownes, 
in 1726 and 7." Bownes was an English Quaker and Came 
out to travel and visit his friends in the colonies, and while 
here attended the yearly meetings through New England. — 
In September 1727 he was attending the yearly meeting at 
Cocksct, in Rhode Island, which lasted three days. Speak- 
ing of the conclusion of the meeting he says : "This evening 
as I was going to bed, about 10 o'clock at night, there was an 
exceeding great earthquake, that made a noise like driving 
carts or wagons on an uneven causeway ; it continued about 
two minutes to the great surprise of the people. It was felt 
about 1,500 miles as was afterwards computed, and as was 
thought, by calculation was not quite three hours going that 
space." 

This we think, establishes the truth of the family tradition 
beyond even a reasonable doubt. 

Earthquakes were more frequent in New England at th< 
iy settlement of the country than of late years. They 
were experienced in 1627, 1638, 1663 and 1670. The 
shocks generally proceeded from the East to the West, as in 
the instance referred to.. In May, 1804, a shock was felt in 
the city of New York, between one and two o'clock, p. m.. 
and succeeded by a lighter one at 4 p. m. Its course was 
from East to West. 

The shingles whioh covered this house were oak slaves, 
pretty wide and laid well to the weather. They curled up 
by the action of the weather, so that each butt would hold a 
pint of water. 

The house was struck by lightning when Daniel Bull of 
Monroe, the father of Ebenezer, was a small boy, about in 
1767 or 8, and the scars then made are visible to-day. 

When Bull first settled at Hamplonburgh there was no 
mill, nearer or more convenient than Madam Brett's, at the 
mouth of the Fishkill, in Dutchess county, and his grain for 
a few years was ground there. His custom was to shoulder 
his bags and carry them there and back, which usually con- 
sumed two days. On one occasion he went and did not r«- 
turn at the usual time, and Mrs. Bull fearing some accident 
had befallen him, tied her infant to the bed post and went ofl 
to meet him. She met him some halfway to New Windsor, 
trudging homeward, tired and weaiy with the weight of his 
load. He had been delayed in crossing the river, but in 
*ther respects well, and they returned with lighter hearts^ 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 483 

mutually bearing each others burthens, and found the child 
safe and still tethered to the bed post. 

Such times made men and women fit to be the fathers and 
mothers of a free and generous people. May their descen- 
dents never degenerate in mind or body. 

From the erection of this house till the commencement of 
the Revolution, it was surrounded by an Indian population, 
which though it committed occasional aggressions upon the 
white settlers, left the Bull family in comparative safety. — 
The members of the family had performed many kind offices 
for the Indians in the vicinity, and they insured its safety. — 
During the French and Indian war which commenced in 
1756 and ended in 1763, and just before the commencement 
of the war of the Revolution, this old house was used as a 
fort and place of refuge for the inhabitants of the neighbor- 
hood for miles round, and especially at night. Though this 
was well known, the house was never attacked, nor an in- 
mate for the time being molested in any way. The good 
services performed by this ancient building, in these and. 
other respects, have their proper influence on the mind of 
Mr. Ebenezer Bull, its present owner, who takes a just pride 
in the repair and preservation of the structure. The etymol- 
ogy of Hamptonburgh we have partly stated under the name 
Hampton, in the town of Newburgh, and said it meant 
"house or residence on a hill." To that is added in this case 
the Saxon "burg," a village or borough. The whole mean- 
ing "a village, town or borough on a hill." 

William Bull died February 1755, aged 66. Sarah Wells, 
his wife, was born April 6th, 1694, and died April 21st, 
1796, aged 102 years and 15 days. They were buried in the 
family yard at Hamptonburgh, in the grounds he gave for the 
purpose, and known as "Burying Hill." A large quantity 
of the land owned by this early settler is still in the posses-, 
sion of his dependents. 

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM BULL AND SARAH WELLS — WHEN BORN — TO WHOM 

MARRIED — AND THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN 

AT HER DEATH IN 1796. 

Names. Born. Married. 

John, May 3,1721, Miss Holly of Goshen, 

William, March 13, 1723, " Booth, of Hampionb'h, 

Sarah. Sept'br 1,1725, CharlesBooth do 

Thomas, Dec'r 27,1727, Miss Kerr of Flotida, 

Isaac, Nov'r 17,1729, " Mulliner of L. Britain, 

Esther, May 29,1731, John. Miller of Montgomery 

Mary, Feb'ry 3,1733, Benj. Boothof HKmptonb'h, 10 

Margaret, May 1,1736, Horton of Goshen, 



<3.C. 


G.G.C. 


G.G.G.G. 


12 


61 


4 


6 


15 




8 


23 


3 


12 


22 




6 


21 




, 8 


18 


6, 


10 


17 




7 


7 





482 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

tained the evidence. The book, was a re-print in 1826 of an 
old work entitled, "The Life and Travels of Samuel Bownes, 
in 1726 and 7." Bownes was an English Quaker and Came 
out to travel and visit his friends in the colonies, and while 
here attended the yearly meetings through New England. — 
In September 1727 he was attending the yearly meeting at 
Cockset, in Rhode Island, which lasted three days. Speak- 
ing of the conclusion of the meeting he says : "This evening 
as I was going to bed, about 10 o'clock at night, there was an 
exceeding great earthquake, that made a noise like driving 
carts or wagons on an uneven causeway ; it continued about 
two minutes to the great surprise of the people. It was felt 
about 1,500 miles as was afterwards computed, and as was 
thought, by calculation was not quite three hours going thai 
<pace." 

This we think, establishes the truth of the family tradition 
beyond even a reasonable doubt. 

Earthquakes were more frequent in New England at the 
early settlement of the country than of late years. They 
were experienced in 1627, 1638, 1663 and 1670. The 
shocks generally proceeded from the East to the West, as in 
the instance referred to.. In May, 1804, a shock was felt in 
the city of New York, between one and two o'clock, p. m., 
and succeeded by a lighter one at 4 p. m. Its course was 
from East to West. 

The shingles whioh covered this house were oak staves, 
pretty wide and laid well to the weather. They curled up 
by the action of the weather, so that each butt would hold a 
pint of water. 

The house was struck by lightning when Daniel Bull of 
Monroe, the father of Ebenezer, was a small boy, about in 
1767 or 8, and the scars then made are visible to-day. 

When Bull first settled at Hamptonburgh there was no 
mill, nearer or more convenient than Madam Brett's, at th< 
mouth of the Fishkill, in Dutchess county, and his grain for 
a few years was ground there. His custom was to shoulder 
his bags and carry them there and back, which usually con- 
sumed two days. On one occasion he went and did not r«- 
turn at the usual time, and Mrs. Bull fearing some accident 
had befallen him, tied her infant to the bed post and went off 
to meet him. She met him some halfway to New Wmdsor, 
trudging homeward, tired and weary with the weight of his 
load. He had been delayed in crossing the river, but in 
*ther respects well, and they returned with lighter hearts, 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 483 

mutually bearing each others burthens, and found the child- 
safe and still tethered to the bed post. 

Such times made men and women fit to be the fathers and 
mothers of a free and generous people. May their descen- 
dents never degenerate in mind or body. 

From the erection of this house till the commencement of 
tbe Revolution, it was surrounded by an Indian population, 
which though it committed occasional aggressions upon the 
white settlers, left the Bull family in comparative safety. — 
The members of the family had performed many kind offices 
for the Indians in the vicinity, and they insured its safety. — 
During the French and Indian war which commenced in 
1756 and ended in 1763, and just before the commencement 
of the war of the Revolution, this old house was used as a 
fort and place of refuge for the inhabitants of the neighbor- 
hood for miles round, and especially at night. Though this 
was well known, the bouse was never attacked, nor an in- 
mate for the time being molested in any way. The good 
services performed by this ancient building, in these and 
other respects, have their proper influence on the mind of 
Mr. Ebenezer Bull, its present owner, who takes a just pride 
in the repair and preservation of the structure. The etymol- 
ogy of Hamptonburgh we have partly stated under the name 
Hampton, in the town of Newburgh, and said it meant 
"house or residence on a hill." To tbat is added in this case 
the Saxon "burg," a village or borough. The whole mean- 
ing "a village, town or borough on a hill." 

William Bull died February 1755, aged 66. Sarah Wells, 
his wife, was born April 6th, 1694, and died April 21s-t, 
1796, aged 102 years and 15 days. They were buried in the 
family yard at Hamptonburgh, in the grounds he gave for the 
purpose, and known as "Burying Hill." A large quantity 
of (he land owned by this early settler is still in the posses-, 
sion of his deseendents. 

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM BULL AND SARAH WELLS — WHEN BORN — TO WHOM 

MARRIED — AND THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN 

AT HER DEATH IN 1796. 

Names. Born. Married. G.c. 

John, May 3,1721, Miss Holly of Goshen,, 12 

William, March 13, 1723, " Booth, of Hamptonb'h, 6 

Sarah. Srpt'br 1,1725, CharlesBooth do 8 

Thomas, Dec'r 27,1727, Miss Kerr of Flotida. 12 

Isaac, Nov'r 17,1729, " Mulliner of L. Britain, 6 

Esther, May 29,1731, John. Miller of Montgomery, 8 

Mary, Feb'ry 3,1733, Benj. Booth, of Hampton b'h, 10 

Margaret. May 1,1736, Hortcn of Goshen, 7 



G.G.C. 


G.G.G. 


61 


4 


15 




23 


2 


22 




21 




18 


6, 


17 




7 





484 . TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

Catharine, May 24,1738. James Faulkner of Walkill, 7 

Ann, Nov'br 4, 1740, Win. Kager of Neelytown, 10 17 

Richard, May 29,1743, MissBudd, E. Division, 5 6 

Ellinor, March 4,1745, Henry Weller of Mont'y, 7 3 

98 212 13 

It « sen from this table, that the children of these early settler- 

were in number, 12 

Their Grand Children, 9,8 

Their Greal Grand Children, 012 

heir Great Great Grand Children, 13 

Total 33.5 

Measures have been taken, within a few years past, to as- 
certain the number of the descendents of these persons, and 
though we are not prepared to state the aggregate here, at 
this time, yet we have no doubl the number is at present as 
many thousands, as this is hundreds. The first two genera- 
tions had a large capital to start on, and the increase since, 
from generation to generation, lias been with a tremendous 
ratio. It may be questioned, if there is a family in the State, 

it exceeds it in tiie number of its descendents. 

Goshen. — The lands in the vicinity of this village must 
have been settled shortly after the locations made by Chris- 
topher Denn and Daniel Cromline, possibly earlier than that 
of the last, but at what time exactly we cannot state. We 
have seen deeds for lots in the village dated as early as 1714. 
The deed of trust from John Everett, John Carpenter and 

lers, to John Yelverton, previously recited, is dated July 
10, 1721, and states "that the owners of Wawayanda had 
,ly made a conveyance to John Everett and Samuel Clows 
of 1-6 part of all said lands, to the intent that a town- 
should betaken up and laid out, and 10 acres for highw 
and for settling a minister, and that a township had been laid 
out, &c." 

The dates of these several deeds and the number of persons 
named, with the objects declared (herein, and accomplished 
thereby, are not conclusive as to the time of settlement. Ma- 
ny of those persons, even at the date of the deed of 17.21, 
may have lived at this locality, for the Goshen congregation 
*.v is formed, Church organized and minister (Rev. John 
Bradner) sett ' ?arly as 1721 ; but. who they were par- 
ticularly, we are not informed. Whoever they may have 
been, and what the time of settlement, it is beyond all ques- 
tion that John Everett, John Carpenter, John Gale, William 









HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 485 

Ltidlum, James Jackson, Isaac Finch, Solomon Carpenter, 
Michael Dunning, William Jackson, Samuel Seely, Samuel 
Webb, John Yelverton, Samuel Clows, John Bradner, John 
Denton, were among the first at this locality and vicinity,, 
many of whose names and family descendants are still very 
numerous in the town at large. 

The Strongs, Waters, Thorns, Wilkins, Wiekhams, Swe- 
zies, Colemans, Hortons, Reeves, Cases, Dobbins, Howells, 
came in afterwards. 

Spofford, in his Gazetteer, state* that Goshen was settled 
as early as 1703. This we think is an error, and that he 
mistook the date of the patent for that of the settlement, or 
inferred that it was settled as soon as the grant was made'. — 
All tradition unite in saying that Denn was the first settler in 
this region of country, and that was not. till 1712. 

We have been told that the ridge of land on which the 
Bank now stands, was first cleared and settled by Michael 
Dunning, Solomon Carpenter and John Everett, and that 
they came from Connecticut. 

The first tavern in the place is said to have been on this 
ridge, and kept by Birdsey Yarrington, and that the first 
hogshead of rum taken to Goshen was brought from New 
York by Capt. Jackson to New Windsor, and taken from 
there on a kind of drag. 

Samuel Clows came to the vicinity of the village in con- 
sequence of being an agent for the owners of Wawayanda, 
and resided on the farm now owned by Mr. James Cooper 
Reeve. 

John Yelverton above named, came to the county very 
early from England, and resided a part of the time in Goshen 
and a part in New Windsor, where he owned a sloop and 
traded to New York. His will is dated 1760, and James 
Jackson, John Moncll and Alexander Steel were the witness- 
es, at which time he lived at New Windsor. 

The land east of and embracing what is now called Golden 
Hill, was settled by an individual by the name of L'Homi- 
dieu, and it was afterwards owned by Joseph Coleman, the 
father of Nathan. This family came from Long Island. 

Silas Horton was next north on a farm afterwards owned 
by his son Matthias, and afterwards by his son Gabriel. 

We have not space to enumerate the early settlers and point 
to their localities, and must content ourselves by saying that 
along all the old roads leading out of or through the village 
plottowards Montgomery ^Florida, Warwick, Chester and New 
Windsor, early settlements were made in quick succession,, 



486 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

and the population increased rapidly. This is evident from 
the facts that the church was organized in 1721, and the court 
house built, probably, in 1738. On the records of the Gen- 
eral Assembly we find this entry : 

Court House.— "Oct. 20, 1737. Ordered, That Mr. Tarbosch be added to 
the commitee appointed to consider of the Bill entitled, "an act to enable the 
Justices of the Peace in that part of Orange county being to the northward 
of the Highlands, to build a Court House and Goal for the said county at 
Goshen." 

The Governor's assent was given to the bill on the 16th of 
December, 1737, and it became a law. 

As we do not profess in our outline notes of history, to ob- 
serve the unities of time, place and circumstance with the 
accuracy of a play writer, we may as well say here, as else- 
where, all we have to state in relation to this hall of justice. 

In Assembly of New York, October "24, 1754. 

■• Mr. Gale, according to leave, brought in the following bill, which was 
passed : — 

An act to raise a sum of money, not exceeding £100, on the freeholders 
and inhabitants of that part of Orange County which lies to the Northward 
oi the mountains, lor making an addition to the Court House in Goshen" 

At this time, and until 1773, the building- was of wood 
and stood, somewhere about in the vicinity of the hotel kept 
formerly by Dr. Seward, now by Mr. Smiley In that year 
it was built of stone, two stories high, on a new location, 
where it stood till taken down a {cw years since, to give 
place to the present beautiful and convenient brick edifice. 

In about 1801 2 a third story was added, and while run- 
ning- up the corners, a bottle of ruin was to be the reward of 
i he individual who should build up his first and best. Jesse 
W ood. Esq., of Warwick, then an apprentice, won the bottle. 

When this building was (•reeled and finished in 1773, a 
patriot incident occurred, which we will relate; and as there 
are. two versions of it, we will give them both. 

One is, that when the building was completed, the king's 
Miiis were placed upon it in some conspicuous location, but 
on the same night they were torn down from their elevated 

•linn and never saw the light of a second day. 

The other is, that on finishing the building, a question 
arose, where the kind's arms should be placed — one party 
wanting them hung in one place and the other in another. 
One old patriot standing by, who had as yet taken no active 
part in the matter, said " Give me the arms, and I will 
place them where no one will object to." He received the 



HAMFTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 487 

bauble, and holding it against the side of the building, with 
a blow from a hammer broke it into fragments. — 
We are ashamed of having forgotten the name of this indi- 
vidual, for it would have immortalized one page of our pa- 
per. We believe, however, it was Mr. Wisner, an ingrained 
Whig, the ancestor of those of that name in the county. — 
Such contempt of the emblems of royalty in open day, at that 
early period, was certainly ominous of future danger, and 
foreshadowed the results of the Revolution. 

Chester. — The village now known by this name was settled 
as early as 1751 by John Yelverton, previously mentioned, 
but at what time it received the name we are uninformed. — 
Some of the early settlers were probably from the city of 
Chester, England. The etymology of the name is given in 
the introduction, as derived from the Saxon Ceastir, meaning 
camp or castle — the same as the Latin Castrum, a camp. 

John Beers owned about 120 acres, and in 1751 sold to 
James Ensign, who sold to Yelverton. This land descended 
to his grandson Abijah Yelverton, the father of Anthony 
Yelverton, Esq. of Chester, now about SO years of age, and 
from whom we procured our notes of this locality and vi- 
cinity. The present village is on this 120 acres, and some 
of the original purchase is in possession of the descendents of 
John Yelverton. 

The famity was originally from Wales, and as it was 
early in the county, and honorably connected with the first 
settlement of the old town of Goshen, we will name his 
descendents. When John came, he was accompanied by a 
brother and a sister, and his children were John, Anthony, 
Thomas, James and several daughters who married very re- 
spectably. 

One daughter married Mr. Carpenter of Goshen ; 

One do do Howell do ; 

One do do Marvin Oxford ; 

One do do Carman. 

John the Second had but one child, Abijah. 

Abijah's children were John, Anthony and Abijah. 

Thomas' children were James, William and Elizabeth. 

This family came from England to Long Island, from 
there to New Windsor, and from there to Goshen and Ches- 
ter. At the time they settled at Chester, there was but a foot 
path through the woods to Goshen, and they had to go, with 
all the early settlers of the eastern portion of the county, to 
Madam Brett's mill. 

John Yelverton, the first settler, was a carpenter. 



488 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

Capt. Nathaniel Roe located a mile and a half south, on a 

nn now owned by his grand son, Jesse Roe. Nathaniel 
had two sons, Nathaniel and William, and Jesse is the son of 
Nathaniel. His brother William owns the old Seely farm at 
Graycourt. Daniel, a son of William, lives near Sugarloaf. 

Mr. Vail located near this place quite early, the academy 
is on the lands he owned. 

Peter Townsand also — his sons were William, Peter and 
Isaac. His daughter Ann married Solomon Townsand, and 
Sarah, Dr. Anthony Davis. 

John Jackson located north of Yelvcrton, and Fletcher 
Woodhull married his only daugh 

Joseph Drake was among the earliest in this vicinity, he 
owned the farm of 200 acres where Joseph G. now lives. 

Colvill Carpenter settled on the lands now owned by his 
son Jesse. He had two sons, Daniel and Jesse. 

Hector St. John must not he forgotten in our short and 
rambling- notes of early settlement. He came from France, 
lived where Hezekiah MofTal, Esq. lived and died. Dur- 
ing the war of the Revolution he returned to France, took 
one son with him, and after the war returned to the country, 
and was appointed Consul for New York. The other son 
and daughter were left in the country, sent lo the east and 
educated. Frances, the daughter, married a Frenchman by 
the name of Otto, and went to Fiance. There he was creat- 
ed Count Otto, and sent as Minister to the court of Vienna. 
During the French Revolution they were reduced to poverty, 
and Frances suffered every possible privation. We do not 
know the name of the mother of these children. What a 
strange and fickle genius apparently guards the lives of some 
individuals, one is taken from poverty to wealth, another 
dashed from riches and ease to want and hard labor, a third, 
from the lowest grade in society to adorn the highest circle. 

Services in French and Indian War. 

Goshen and vicinity being early settled, and in conse- 
quence of the erection of a court house there in 1738, it be- 
came the most important, populous and publicly known dis- 
trict of the county, and consequently, the settlers were called 
upon to take an active part in all matters of a public charac- 
ter, or which concerned the interest of the county. These 
events were principally of a warlike character, commencing 
with the aggtessions of East New Jersey, as early perhaps as 
1730, then continued through the old French and Indian 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 489 

war, and so down to the Revolution and battle of Minisink ; 
in each and all of which, the inhabitants of v this region turned 
out with great alacrity, and discharged their duty with good 
will and patriot honesty. A portion of these services have 
already been referred to in our remarks on other towns, while 
some of them will be more particularly mentioned in our 
paper hereafter, and w%, will content ourselves for the pres- 
ent by making a few exlracls in relation to these services in 
the French and Indian war, commenced in 1756, as we find 
them on the Journal of the Assembly. The services were 
principally on the lines of Orange and Ulster, and in the 
northern part of the state. 

" To Lieut. Samuel Denton and Company, £14, 16s. Od. 

Ensign Thomas Bull and Company, 15, 11, 0. 

Seargent Benjamin Booth and Companv, 7, 0. 

Captain George DeKay going express from Goshen 

to Minisink for Gov.ilardy m 1756, 2, 0, 0. 

Col. Vincent Mathews for guides to tegulavs ported 
at Goshen, from Oct. 1757, to February, 1758. 

Capt. John Wisner and Company as scouts in 1757, 

Col. David Gardner and Maj.John Salman lor a barrel 
of gunpowder for the great guns in Suffolk County 
and materials for carriages, etc. 

Lieut. CoJvin Bradner for taking horses home from 
Saratoga by order of Col. De Key, 1757, 

Samuel Gale for provisions to troops on frontiers, 
near Goshen, 

Colvin Carpenter in Capt. Case's Company, 1758, 

Capt. John Bull and detachment, " 

Lieut. Robert Denton " " 

Daniel Gale in Capt. Wisner's Company, 1757, 

Doct. John Gale attending sick, 1756, 

Maj. William Thompson for guarding: frontiers 17T.s. 

Col. Benjamin Tuston, Capt. Daniel Case and Capt. 
J. Bull for money advanced in building block houses 
Nos. 1 and 2 on the western fiontier in Jan. 1757, 100, q, I 

Lieut. John Denton and Company lor guarding Cols. 
Clinton and DeKey in laying out the ground, etc. 
for block houses, 6, 12, I 

Hugh Dobbin, in Capt. Wisner*s Company, for pas- 
turage of 115 horses of Col. DeKey's regiment in 
Albany when Ft. William Henry was taken, 1757, 4, 7,0 

Peter Carter, David Benjamin, Philip Reid and Fran- 
cis Armstrong for guarding George DeKey as Ex- 
press from Goshen to Minisink in 1756, 4, 0, 0, 

James Sayre and Ebenezer Gilbert and Companys 

for guarding block houses in February, 1757. ' 46, 4, 

The following message will show the nature of the services 
performed by the inhabitants of Orange and Ulster, and the 
desperate condition of those counties at the time and for sev- 



97, 


10, 





7, 


13, 


9 


21, 


0, 





5, 


10, 





56, 


o, 





o 

~ 5 


12, 





17. 


8, 




1, 


7. 


9 


1, 


0, 




so, 


o, 





40, 


0. 


i 



490 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

eral years afterwards . At the date of the message, Fort Wil- 
liam Henry had been taken by the French, and as they had 
a large army and a formidable train of artillery, it was expect- 
ed that they would penetrate further into the country, which 
would give encouragement to the Indians and excite them to 
greater hostility along the lines. 

In General Assembly, December 7, 1757. 
Lieut. Governor De Lancey among other things communicated to the 
Senate as follows : 

■ The enemy Indians having made incursions into the counties of Ulster 
and < md murdered some of the inhabitants, I ordered detachments of 

the militia to be employed on the scout to protect the settlers, promising to 
recommend their service to you at the next meeting, which I now do. ] 

ited applicati >m thence, gave order- to have a lin. 

block houses built, more effectually to secure that part of the county, and 

to encourage the inhabitants to stay and not abandon their settlements. The 

w, an 1 has been ior some time, guarded by troops posted there 

Lan oun'sorders; but when his majesty's service next sea- 

ips, it will become necessary to place others there 

ivince, lest that part of the country be destroyed by the 

. and their savages, etc.'' 

November 9, 1763. 
Lieut. Governor Cadwallader Colden communicated to the. house among 
other thinsjs as follow - : 

" The enemy have alre;i ' '.1 the borders of Orange and Ulster, am. 

thouj i confident of the spiril and activity of the militia, yetasthis du- 

be too severely felt, 1 assure <>u will enable me to i 

. 

A guard of 160 men exclusive of officers, were ordered for 
■ nty to the frontiers, and 40 for Orange county. 
• time the town of Goshen was very large, running from 
old northwest line to New Jersey, and extending eas 
H ' in. In 17t>4 a bill was passed entitled, "an act for 
the Precinct of I n, in Orange county, into 

precincts, to be called by the names of Goshen and 
Cornwall." 

Cornwall, as then erected, iced what is now Corn- 

11, Bloominggrove and Monroe, and in 1788 was divided, 
and these three towns organized. 

We may as well discharge an obligation here as elsewhere, 
and say that our thanks are due to Mr. P. V. C. Miller of 
Shawangunk, for the loan politely tendered us of a copy o( 
the proceedings of the colonial Legislature, commencing in 
lG'Jl and ending in 11 nd of which we have made free use. 

BATTLE Of MINTS'INK AND INTERMENT OP THE BONKS. 

• tale of this Indian massacre, in consequence of the 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 491 

number and worth of our immediate relatives, friends and 
neighbors, who were slain on that occasion, is fresh in the 
memory of every reader ; and the whole transaction, from 
the descent of Brandt, that Indian thunderbolt, into the county 
from the valley of the Mamakating, till he left with his war- 
riors after the. battle, are so accurately and eloquently de- 
scribed by Dr. Wilson in his address, on the occasion of bury- 
ing the bones of the slain, that we are led to adopt it in pre- 
ference to any thing that we could write. 

The following circumstance caused the interment of the 
bones : In 1820 Dr. D. R. Arnell, President of the Orange 
County Medical Society, at its annual meeting in July, read 
a biographical sketch of Dr. Tusten, who fell in the battle of 
Minisink, which was published and awakened an interest in 
the public mind, and led to the collection and interment of 
the bones in question. A committee was appointed to gather 
them up, after they had been bleached by the sunshine 
and storms of more than forty years, ungratefully neglected 
by their friends and countrymen. 

The special committee of arrangements published the fol- 
lowing notice to give the citizens an opportunity to he present 
and partake of the transactions of the day. The debt 
due to patriotism, and they wished all to be present to wit- 
ness and honor the payment. 

Funeral Procession. — Tlie special committee of arrangements 
and invite the clergy of the different denominations, all the military officers, 
the civil and judicial officers, surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolu- 
tion, survivors of the Minisink battle, all uniform companies and thedinY 
Masonic lodges, the medical society, gentlemen of the bar and the principals, 
teachers and students of the diffi ademies in the county vi 

and particularly the surviving relatives of those who were slain in the Min- 
sink battle, to attend in Goshen on the 22d proximo. .Tust and proper pi. 
will be assigned them in the funeral proce.-sion of that day. 

Tho.mas Waters, Gabriel N. Phillips, J. W. Carpekti r, 
David R. Arnell, Henry G. Wisner, Committee. 
Goshen, June 26, 1S22. 

The committee availed themselves of every means to as- 
certain the number and names of the dead, appealed in pub- 
lic notices to the friends of the slain to communicate their 
names, and suggested that much care be taken in the accu- 
racy of spelling them. Doubtless the names of all were pro- 
cured. We have not, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, 
ever heard a suggestion to the contrary. The whole duty 
of the living seems to have been performed with accuracy 
and devout gratitude to all the dead. 

The gentlemen to whom the duty of collecting the bones 



492 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

was entrusted, executed their trust with zeal and fidelity. — 
They took every means to gather 1 1 to whole. The fust day 
they travelled about 40 miles, half the distance through a 
perfect wilderness of woods and mountains. They passed 
the night with Mr. Samuel Walk ins, of half way brook, a 
former resident of the county, at Hamptonburgh, and son of 
iuel Watkins, Esq. of the Revolution. His residence was 
about six miles from the battle ground, to which they pro- 
ceeded on the ensuing morning. The locality was so im- 
practicable that some of the party left their horses, preferring 
to clamber over the rough ground, and up and down the 
mountains on foot, to the danger of riding. The vicinity of 
the scene of action was a perfect wilderness, without a trace 
of improvement of any kind. The battle was commenced on 
tli" banks of the Delaware, opposite to the mouth of the Lack- 
awack, and ended about three quarters of a mile from the 
river. The committee were astonished at the course taken 
by our little army, when they took a full view of the whole 
ground, for some of the descents and elevations were fright- 
ful over which they passed. The majority of the bones were 
found on the spot where the battle was fought, though some 
were found at (lie distance of several miles. These, were 
those who had been wounded, wandered away and finally 
died of their wounds or of hunger. The wild beasts may 
have removed some to a distance from the scene of action. — 
The bones of one man were found who after being wounded 
erept into a crevice between two rock 1 , and died there. The 
number of bones collected was about 300 ; though others had 
been found by hunters am! others passing through that dis- 
trict of country, which were brought in. in part, and deposit- 
ed with the committee. It was supposed that about one half 
of the bones of all the slain were found and deposited under 
the monument. At the time some supposed that Indian 
bones might have been gathered up and mingled with those 
of the white men, but the known rule of the Indian when 
successful in battle, to carry off all the slain, precludes the 
above supposition, and on this occasion the survivors saw the 
Indians after the battle engaged in this very duty. But 
whether so or not, the thought ought not to mar or disturb 
the moral and patriot grandeur of the deed, but we ought 
rather to be consoled by the reflection that death renders all 
equal and despoils all enmities; and there let the ashes of 
friend and foe sleep together the sleep of death. 

We witnessed this solemn and interesting pageant, as it 
was transacted amidst the assembled inhabitants of the coun- 






HAMI'TONBURGH AND CHESTER. 493 

ty. At no previous time in its history were so many people 
collected together, 15,000 persons it was thought witnessed 
the ceremonies. The military of the county, and especially 
the corps of cadets from West Point, under their gallant com- 
mander, Maj. Worth, who had kindly consented to be pres- 
ent and direct the movements of the military, looked remark- 
ably well; they performed their evolutions with the accuracy 
of trained soldiers. The procession formed on the occasion, 
moved with the solemn dignity inspired by the patriot event 
they came to celebrate. The address of the Rev. James R. 
Wilson was touching, forcible and eloquent, and his manner 
as he spoke of the dried bones of our ancestors slain in Indian 
battle, was admirably calculated to light up anew the fires o! 
the Revolution in the breast of the aged and time-worn pat- 
riot, and animate the youth of the land to imitate their deeds* 
of valor in the just defence of their country. 

The corner stone of the monument, destined to hold the 
ashes of the heroic dead, was put in place by Gen. Hathorn, 
preceded by a short address, which for point, neatness and 
modesty, we never heard excelled on any occasion. Deep 
sorrow for the calamity, which swept down his countrymen 
to an untimely and cruel grave, seemed to pervade and over- 
whelm his mind, and the good old patriot found it not in bis 
heart, to fight the battle over. Ail who now read the ad- 
dress, will be most forcibly impressed with the truth of our 
remarks, and admire the kindness, humanity and good will 
of the speaker. Gen. Hathorn at the time, was nearly 80 
years of age, and now while we write, sleeps the sleep of 
. death in an honored grave. The defeat he sustained in 
battle of Mini-sink, the slaughter of his friends and neighbors, 
and the pall of gloom and heart-felt sorrow which were 
thrown over the country by the melancholy catastrophy, 
never sank the General in public estimation ; for he did all 
that a brave man could to prevent defeat, while the pursuit 
and battle were in opposition to bis views as an intelligent 
soldier, knowing the craft and mode of warfare, of his Indian 
foes. 

of Gen. Hnthora on laying the Corner Stone of the Monument. 

At the end of three and forty years, we have assembled to perform the 

-of sepulture to the bones of our countrymen and kindred. But 

tnese alone are not sufficient : policy has united with the gratitude of nations 

in erecting some memorial of the virtues of tho.-e, who died in defending 

their country. Monuments to the brave are mementoes to their descend- 

ents; the honors they record are stars to the patriot in the path of glory. 

leath the inn' whose foundation we now lay, repose a 1 ! [hat was 

earthly of patriots and heroes. This honor has been Ions: their due. ! i I 



494 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

circumstances, which it is unnecessary for me to recount, have prevented 
un earlier display of the gratitude of their country. Having commanded on 
that melancholy occasion, which bereft the nation of so many of its brightest 
ornaments — having been the companion of their sufferings in a pathless 
desert, and a witness of their valor against a savage foe of superior numbers, I 
approach the duty assigned me with mingled feelings of sadness and pleasure. 
May this monument endure with the liberties of our country: when they 
perish.tliis land will be no longer worthy to hold within its bosom the con- 
secrated bones of its heroes. 

Address of Dr. Wilson. 

Forty-three years ago this day and at this very hour of the day, the brave 
men, whose bones are enclosed in these coffins, were not only hazarding. 
but sacrificing their lives for the protection of their wives, their children, 
their hemes, and their country. You have before you, fellow citizens, the 
remains of some of those heroes, whose blood paid the price of our freedom 
and independence; for they fell in battle at that period, when this nation, 
through perils the most tremendous, was struggling into existence — at a 
time when an old and gigantic monarchy in the true spirit of despotic pow- 
er, was putting forth all her energies, to hold us in a state of vassalage and 
destroy forever the cause of liberty, at the moment of its dawn on the New 
World. But I do not now recount the deeds ol valor, nor the counsel.- of 
wisdom, which were made the means of procuring for our country all the 
blessings, which she now enjoys in such profusion. On this topic a thou- 
sand tongues were eloquent, on the late anniversary of our Independence — 
Nor do I now call your attention to the benign providential administration 
of "the Prince of the kings of the earth," whose arm wrought for us deliv- 
erance; though an ample theme, that well deserves to occupy more of the 
public attention, and to awaken more gratitude, in the celebration of our 
it national festival. 
There is one feature of the policy o f our enemy, in managing her most 
unjust and unnatural warfare against us, which merits special notice, as 
immediately connected with the disastrous event over which we are ( 
to mourn — f mean her more than inhuman employment of the tomahawk 
and scalping knife of the savj aes to butcher our peaceful citizens — a policy 
which stains forever the pride ot Biitish glory. In ancient times when war 
was waged against any nation, hoai y age, women and children were equally 
the objects of its destructive fury with the warrior in the field of bi 
This cruel feature of war has been softened, or rather obliterated, by the 
progress of civilization ; and by 'he common consent of civilized nations, 
the soldier in arms only is the object of attack, while the unarmed citizen 
of every class rem. ins unmolested — a law of nations which divests war of 
more than half its horrors. But this amelioration in the laws of war has not 
reached the savages of our wilderness who spare no age nor sex— all are 
the subjects of their indiscriminate butchery. Their tomahawk sinks into 
the head of the sucking child, while reeking with the blood of the mother. 
Such was the warfare to which the British cabinet allied itself, " sha.. 
hands with the savage scalping knite and tomahawk." NotwitI - 
the loud remonstrance of its most enlightened statesmen, the parliament of 
(ireat Britain employed the savage hordes to murder in cold blood, the unof- 
fending women and children of oar western frontiers. All that the most 
sanguinary tyrant could have desired, did the savage allies of our enemy 
perpetrate. The blood of murdered thousands yet cries for vengeance upon 
lUe British throne. Who can imagine, much less recount, the I and 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 495 

sufferings of our western people, while the Indian tomahawk, was raised 
over theii heads, or bathed in their blood ? Yet, I see the pillars of smoke 
ascend from their burning cottages, along our western border from the plains 
of Kentucky to the Mountains of Minisink— the flames of their houses glar- 
ing on the darkness of midnight, and hear the screams of women and chil- 
dren, awaked from their slumbers by the blaze of their dwellings, and the 
warhoop of the savage. Yes, all this was more than realized. 

One chieftan was distinguished above all others in this murderous carnage 
— I mean Col. Joseph Brandt. His father was a German and his mother a 
Mohawk Indian.* He was, at an early age, placed in Dartmouth college, 
where he received many kind attentions, ai sessingno ordinary powers, 

acquired a good education ; and thus he was dandled on the knees, and 
mucked the breast of that country, whose sons and daughters, he was by 
British cruelty, commissioned to massacre. Early in the Revolutionary war, 
he received from George III. a colonel's commission, appointing him to the 
command of the six'' nations, in the northern and western parts of New 
York. It is he who is styled by Champbeli, in a note to his "Gertrude of 
Wyoming," "The monster Brandt," and w is a leader in the dreadful 

massacre, which desolated the blooming fields of fair Wyoming in the au- 
tumn of 1778. j The ferocity of his sai ature was not tamed by edu- 

i m— in him, the blood of the barbarian extinguished every spark of civi- 
lization, that might have been kindled in his constitution. He was more 
cunning than the fox, and fiercer than the tiger. 

With three hundred of his warriors, he ' from Niagara, in June 

1779, to fall upon the western frontiers of this slate. There were also un- 
der his command, painted like Indians, about two hundred tories, whom 
through courtesy, we often hear called "the disaffected," "the friends of the 
British government," &c. — but I prefer to call them by the goon old revolu- 
tionary name "Tories. "| Alter the middle of July they appeared on the 
west of Minisink, like a dark cloud hanging on the mountain top, ready to 
break upon the plain below in thunder and lightning, tempest and hail. On 
the morning of the 20th, the inhabitants were awakened from their slum- 
bers, by the flames of their dwellings, and tied in consternation. Their 
is were laid waste, and their cattle and ether property plundered by a 
detachment of his execrable band, whom Brandt had sent out for the work 
of robbery and murder. On the evening of I i ai le day Colonel Tustc 
Goshen, received by express, intelligence i vents of the morning, and 

1 orders to the officers of his regiment, to meet inm on the morning of 

I 21st, with as many volunteers as they could raise, at Minisink, which 
tie had fixed as the place of rendezvous. The officers generally, with the 
small force which they could raise and equip on so short a notice, me 
Col. at the place appointed, where they held a coun il of war, and discusseil 
the question whether they should pursue I ages or not. Col. Tu 

wisely opposed the pursuit, as Brandt, a skilful warrior, was probably the 
commander, as the enemy's force i id to be much superior to them, and 

as they had with them, many tones who were well acquainted with the' 
woods: while we had only a small force, were ill supplied with amir.uni- 

"TIkkp American soldiers who saw Brandt in the time of the Revolutionary war., think he 
was not a half Mood. But Gordon, .Marshall and Campbell .-ill represent him as such ; and 
he whs certainly recognized after the peace, ils n rcta'./e, by t.ie descendants of Sir William 
Jousou, in Schenectady. 

t " The Mammoth comes — the five — 'he monster Brandt, 
With all Ins howling, desolating band." 

"Some estimnte Brandt's forces as low as one hundred and sixty , we gi\&wbatu thour;'. t 
*o he nearest the truth. 



49'i TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

tion, and at the same time expected reinforcements. The majority, howev 
er, were for pursuing the Indians, who they said would not fight, and from 
whom they should endeavor to recover the plunder. In the midst of these 
deliberations, Major Meeker mounted his horse, flourished his sword, and 
Baid, "let the brave men follow me: the cowards may stay behind/' As 
may be readily thought, this decided the question : they all took up the Jine 
of march, and proceeded that evening seventeen miles, and encamped for the 
night. On the next morning, they were joined by a small reinforcement 
under Col. Hathorn of the Warwick regiment, who, being an older officer 
than Col. Tusten, took the command. When they had advanced a few miles, 
to Halfway Brook, they came upon the place where the Indians had en- 
camped the preceding night : and another council was held there. Colonels 
Hathorn, Tusten, and others whose valor was governed by prudence, were 
opposed to advancing farther, as the number of Indian fires, and the extent 
of ground occupied by their encampment, removed all doubt as to the supe- 
riority of the force of the enemy. Here the same scene which broke up the 
former council was reacted, and with the same effeet. 

Captain Tyler, who had some knowledge of the wool- it fi ward 

at the head of a small scouting party, to reconnoitre the movements of the 
enemy, and give notice of the best -rounds for attacking him; but he had not 
a Ivanced far before he was kille I, a circumstance which created considera- 
ble alarm. As our troops were marching north on the hills west of the Del- 
aware, about nine in the morning, they discovered the Indians, advancing 
leisurely along the bank of the river, about three quaters of a mile distant. 

Brandt had sent forward the plunder under an escort to a fording place of 
the Delaware, near the mouth of the Lakawack, where he intended to cross 
the river. Col. Hathorn wished to intercept him before he reached that 
place. Owing to intervening woods and hills, the two armies soon lost sight 
of each other, and Brandt instead of advancing along the bank of tne Dela- 
ware, wheeled to the right, and passing up a deep ravine over which or: 
troops had marched, and thus he, crossing our line of march, showed him- 
self on our rear, about ten o'clock. 

By this skilful manoeuvre, he not only took us by surprise, but chose his 
own ground for commencing the attack. Col. Hathorn, as his men were ill 
-'.ippiied with ammunition, issued an order like that of Gen. Putnam, at Bun- 

9 Hill, not to fire a single shot till the enemy was near enough to make 
it take effect. Just at that moment an Indian was seen riding a horse that 
I been !en from Mini ink on the 20th, and was known to one of our 
men, who immediately fired on him and killed him. The fire soon became 
genera!. At the commen icment about fifty oi Col. Hathi rn s men were cut 
off from the main body an. 1 , could not be brought into the engagement, leav- 
ing between eighty and ninety men only to contend with the whole for 
the enemy, five times their number. Every thing that the 
bravery could effect was effected. Soon after the commencement of the bat- 
tie, they were completely surrounded by the savages on the summit ol a I 
descending on all sides, and the ground winch they occupied among 
Vocks and bushes was about an acre in extent, which they maintained IE 

tinate conflict from between ten and eleven in the n 
the afternoon. The wounded were collected in a secure place under a :■ 
to the number of seventeen j where Col Tusten, who was a skilful surge 

sed thair wounds. So deadly was our tire, that had it m I I to 

ken on account of the failure of ammunition, Brandt afterwards admitted 
that he would have been compelled to retreat. Several attempts to 1 

is had failed, but just as the fire began to slacken, one man who 



HaMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 497 

had guarded the northeast angle of the hollow square and who had kept cp 
from behind a rock, a destructive fire upon the enemy, fell, and the Indian 
and tory crew broke in upon our troops like a resistless deluge. The yell 
of the savages, the screams of the wounded calling upon their compan 
not to forsake them, and the groans oi the dying presented a scene of horror 
mat beggars all description. Col. Tusten probably fell, determining ootto 
abandon the wounded. .All the rest fled in every direction, ami more were 
killed in the flight than fell in the battle. Some swam across the Delaware, 
while others were drowned in attempting to cross. 

Out of eighty who were in the engagement, for-v-four wee killed, chiefly 
militia officers, the most respectable citizens who had ottered themselves 
willingly before their men could be equipped. Some were wounded, who 
died by a lingering and protracted death, whose wounds were not in them- 
selves mortal, but they were forced to suffer under them, inflamed by the 
heat of the weather and for want of dressing, while they were distressed 
i hunger and burning fever, no one to administer them a drop of water, 
or cheer the protracted agonies of death by a sympathising word or look. — 
Thus died a father, a brother, or a husband, far from his home in the cheer- 
soiitudes of the mountains. 

Sternitut infelix, alieno vulnere ccelumque 
Aspicu, e: Juices moriens rumiuiscitur tigros. 

Hapless he falls by wounds which the cruel foe inflicted ; looks to heaven 
for aid, and dying remembers his sweet native place. What horrors sur- 
round such a death ! How ungrateful that they should be thus suffered to 
perish for want of aid ! For forty-three years, too, their bones were suffer- 
ed to whiten among the rocks of the mountain, after their flesh had been de- 
voured by wild beasts, and of some perhaps before they were dead, it was 
that widows, of whom there were thirty-three in the Presbyterian con- 
gregation, were regardless of the remains of their husbands, who were dear 
to them as their own lives; for they engaged and paid a man to conduct 
. to the fatal wood of slaughter, where they intended to collect and bury 
them. They set out on horseback, but had not proceeded far before they 
were forced to return. How could females ride over the nigged and path- 
less mountains? The man went on, promising to perform the duty which 
they had piously attempted, but he violated his promise and never returned 
to teli them that he had done so. But in the county it had long been known 
that the bones of these heroes were thus ungratefully neglected. We*e their 
rings, their agonies, their deaths, for the pr >te tion of their wives, their 
( hildren, their country forgotten ? This day we mourn their death and ac- 
knowledge our ingratitude. 0.' ve spirits of the brave who fell in defence 
of oik liberty, our Ian 1. too long have we neglected your remains, too long 
j we been ungrateful, w« a edge. But oh ! my voice cannot reach 

you ; you cannot hear me ; 1 ought not thus to address you. The living 
my voice can reach: you will permit rne to address the noble sentiments oi 
your souls, and invite you to emulate the example of these heroes in deeds 
of noble daring, should your country ever call. The young and those now 
around me under arms, may see our country involved in dangers, that will 
require even the sacrifice of life for her safety. 

But you will suffer me to remind you, that in order to sacrifice life ration- 
ally, though in our country's righteous cause, requires more than what is 
tailed patriotism and heroism. To meet death boldly, in any cause, while 
the ;>ul is in its natural enmitv against Heaven, is no better than the rash- 
ness of a madman, it is rushing upon misery unutterable and eternal, frcm 

2F 



498 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

sonic blind impulse or the light applause of an hour. It is only by faith in 
Jesus Christ who died for the salvation of sinners, that any human being can 
Tace death calmly, collectedly and rationally. Who can tell what consola- 
tions religion may have ministered to those who expired in the long agonies 
of death, after the battle of Minisink, without any human aid ? None other 
could have done. Great as their bodily pains must have been, future pros- 
] ecta may have imparted much alleviation. How intense would their an- 
guish have been, had the prospects beyond the hour of death been only dark 
and alarming. 

But, fellow citizens, though you should never be called to expose your 
Jives in the lield of battle, though you should continue to the close of life 
amidst scenes of peace, in the bosoms of your families, and die having your 
cheeks bathed with the sympathetic tears of the most affectionate, the most 
tender hearted relatives, and my hope and prayer is, that you may enjoy all 
these, yet they are poor and frigid consolations for a dying man, if he has 
none other, Whether, then, Heaven has destined your country to peace or 
war in your days, it is wise to be prepared for death, by applying in time to 
the atoning blood of the Son of God for redemption, and the sanctification 
and consolation of the Eternal Spirit, to carry you in triumphs, (may I say) 
more than real, through death — yes, through death, " for it is appointed 
'.into all men once to die." In a few years these thousands who now stand 
around us, shall all sink into the earth on which you stand ; the clods of the 
valley shall cover you and not one be left alive. Whilst this day it is your 
duty to show by your gravity, your sobriety, your temperance and your de- 
.oruni, that you remei ith sympathetic emotions of sorrow the fall of 

the excellent citizens whose bones you now inter— remember yourselves. 

You know that when you die your souls survive, and that your bodies too 
shall live again. These dry bones can live, they will live again, they await, 
and your remains soon to follow to the tomb, shall await there the call of 
that Creator who formed the soul and the body to appear before the judg- 
ment seat of Christ. While we look back to their death, let us also look 
forward to <^ur own and to their resurrection on that day " for which all 
other days were ma le." It is hastening -. we must witness its awful solemni- 
ties, not like those of this day. It will not be ushered in by the sound of 
such artillery as you have to-day heard; but the trump of God, tiie Arch- 
angel, reaching the depths of the ocean and the solemn silence of the grave, 
whose tenants shall all start into life, raised by the omnipotent energies that 
shall d sc '-■■'■- in :hc voice of the trumpet. Then shall 

« .,-,,.. in8i earthquakes, comets, liprhtninsrs play 

Their various anginns; all at once disgorge 
Their blazing magaaines," 

V, u t then, as to day. be culled on to attend the interment of a 

few b mes, I at to wait on the funeral of the material universe—the interment 
of the world we inhabit — the interment of her attendant moon — the inter- 
ment of yonder sua now shining glorioU9 y in mid heaven and the interment 
of every star that burns by night in the blue vault of heaven. Secured';, 
the favor of the Almighty Creator, by the Redeemer of man, may we all be 
prepared for waiting upon the funeral obscqui?s of earth and the heavens ii. 
peace and safety. 

Inscriptions on the Monument in the Church Yard at Gtehen. 

Benjamin Vai 'apt 
John Wood* 










NOKTII 


SIDE. 


ttenj. Tusten, 


Col. 


Samuel Jones 


Capt. 


Bizaliel Tyler, 


Capt. 


John Little, 


Capt. 






HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 



499 



Ephraim Masten, Ens. 
Nathaniel Finjh, Adj. 
John Duncan, Capt. 



Roger Town send, 
Samuel Knapp, 
James Knapp, 
Benjamin Bennett. 
William Barker, 
Jacob Dunning. 

John Carpenter, 

J)avid Barney, 
onathan Haskell, 
A>Abram Williams, 
James Morher, 



Ephraim Middaugh, 
Gabriel Wisner, 
Stephen Mead,- 

WEST SIDE. 

Jonathan Pierce, 
James Little. 
Joseph Norris, . 
Gilbert S. Vail, 
Joel Decker, 



SOUTH SIDE 

Isaac Ward, 
BaltusNierpos, 
Gamaliel Bailey, 
Moses Thomas, 
Eleazer Owens, 

EAST SIDE. 



Ens. Nathaniel Terwilliger. 
Esq. Joshua Lockwood, 
Ephraim Ferguson. 



Abram. Shepherd, 

Shepherd, 

Nathan Wade, 
Simon Wait, 
Talmage. 



Adam Emhler, 
Samuel Little, 
Benjamin Dunning 
Daniel Reed. 



Erected by the inhabitants of Orange County, July 22, 1822. 
Sacred to the memory of Forty-four of their Fellow Citizens, who fell at 

THE BATTLE OF MINISINK, JULY 2 2, 1779. 



Signer's of the 

Alexander Smith, 
Phineas Ramsey, 
William Heard. 
Phineas Heard, 
Joseph Conkling, 
Benjamin Harla -.. 
Jonathan Horton 
George Duryea, 
Joshua Reeve, 
John Case, 
John Ketchum, jr. t 
Obadiah Helms. 
William Hubbard. 
Joseph Dixon, 
Daniel Tooker. 
Garrett Dun e 
David Godfrey* 
[saiah Smith,. 
David Young 
Silas Pierson, — 
William Lesly, 
James Miller, 
William Satterby, 
David Kumsey, 
James Mayes, 



Orange 



Pledge in 

Gideon Salmon. 
Phineas Salmon, 
John Meeker, 
Joseph Browne, 
Joseph Diake, 
Samuel Haines Smith, 
John Brown, 
David Horton, 
Increase Wyman, 
Silas Horton, 
Solomon Smith, 
Jonathan Smith, 
John Cravens, 
John King, 
John Barker, 
Ezra Keeler, 
Cuppe Brooks. 
Moses Carpenter, 
James Aspell, 

Wickham,. 
Joshua Corey, *>- 
John Corey, 
Zepheniah Huff, 
Wm. Marshall, 
Silas Horton, , 



County, 1775. 

Charles Tooker, 
John Pain, 
Daniel Pain, 
Joseph Case, 
Benjamin Macveagh. 
John Budd, 
William Horton, 
William Warne, 
Hezekiah Warne, 
Christo. Springsteen, 
Joshua Brown, 
Joshua Brown, jr. 
Hezekiah Watkins, 
Zeba Owen, 
Daniel Reeve, 
James Manne. 
Jonathan Jayne, 
William Forbes, 
John Bull, 
Richard Bull, 
Caleb Coleman, 
Coleman Curtis, 
David Rogers, 
David Jones, 
Jeremiah Butter. 



These persons probably lived in? different towns of the old- 
county of Orange, as it then was. 



500 



TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 



Sig tiers pf the Pledge 

Henry Wisner, 
is Baud, 
John Minthom, 
Thomas Goldsmith, 
Stephen Lewis, 
Abraham Chandh 
Jacobus Bartholf; 
Nathaniel Mi nth' 
Jacobus Laine, 
Guilian Barthi 
Jamaliel Tansdefl, 

i Demarest, 
v ham Dolsen, jr. 
[saac Dolf 

i ;\v Christy, 

k Barthol 

r Barthol f, V 

.Joseph To 

;ger, 
I ) tan, 
i i slius Decker, 
I 1 >emai 
Hall, 
James Smith, 
Denton, 
Solom »n Carpenter, 
John I larvey, - 
ornelius Van Orsdale, 

1 ver, 
■ i rain Forgesson; 
■ Elliot, 
ma Smith, 
John Eliot, 
Ebenezer Beer, 
ih Truman, 
David Moore, 

m Springsteen, 
nue! Mafl 
Nat ruthill, 

C ipt, i miel ■■ i -, 
. John Jackson, 

•hn Woo 1, 
i D miel Drake, 
lane, 
' 

artholfjJ 
tarest, 
lua Weeks, 
Henry Roemer, 
.1 bn H >pper, 

irrie, 
-t McCane, 
William Wisner, 



in Goshen, Orange County, June 8, 171 

Samuel Jones 
Peter Gale, 
Israel Wells, 



Michael Carpenter, 
Stephen Meeker, 
Daniel' Carpenter, 
Samuel Webb, 
Joseph Smith, 
Samuel Carpentt i , 
John Owen, 
Thomas Met' 
Peter Aunant, 
Benjamin Dunning, 
Samuel Smith. 
James Bel!, \J 
Wm. Cumber, 
Jacob D inning, 
Jeremiah S ( onkling, 
Gilbert Bradner, 
Joshua Davis, 
William How 
Jacob Finch, 
John William-. 
James Dollen. 
Hidley Spencer, 
Dollen, 
ie . 
William Walworth, 
Philip Burroughs, 
en Hall, jr. 
Baitholf, ; ' 

phen Bartholf, . 
Thor 

Jacob Fegats, 
Oliver Heady, 

i ;ih, jr., 
Joseph A llison, 
Michael Allis 
Dames \ ' li >on, 
Rich I n. 

Amos Smith, 
Jonathan 
Matthias Cai ■ 
John 

bua Weils. 
William Cai pent r, 
Casper Writer, 
•Jon;':. 

Francis Myanjoy, 
Jonas Wood, 

right Smith. 
Caleb Goldsmith, 
David Linch, 



Silas Stewart, 
Henry Smith, 

John Boyle, 

jamin Carpenter, 
John Finch. 
Michai an, 

Squire Whitaker, 
M ith, 

/Abraham Harding, 
ultz, 

Thompson,jr. 
ry David, jr. 
Jon ■ ' ■ i, 

'I EltS, 

Little, . 

• 
Jam « 
Vjames Tiiompson. 
Samuel Cool 
Jeremia : 
Jonathan Cooleyj 

er, 
Amo 5 Woolcocks, 
John W 
Da . ■■ idle, 
Jeremiah Ferger, 
Nathan; I ers, 

I . 
Zep ; Diake, 

Increase w>, 

Peter Mil] ', 

\JohnVi 
James Gardin 
|lob< son, 

fsr ey, 

John L 

k Dill 
Wi 

• jr., 
n Van I 

lin Knap, 

■ "liitaker. 
Da\ . ;r, 

Jonathan Corney, 
Henry David. 

. 

9ol ■ rasey, 

Solomon Rowe, 
v ,i:niie! Kir, oh. 
Samuel Ret 
Solomon Hofi, 






HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 



501 



I 



Joseph Currie, 

Amos H .: 

Jabez Finch, 

James Ramsey. 

Thomas Barkers, 

Benjamin Wallvi orth, 
nes Master, 

William Morris, 

Daniel Rosegrout, 

Jameo Clearl 

John Cannu . 

John Davis. 

Mical Duni> 

Joseph V\ 

David Lowren, 

James Scoonever, 

James Steward, 

Moses Whitehead, 
Joseph Steward. 
John Mj 
Join Morroson, 
;rt, 
Joseph Coleman, 
Jonathan Coleman, 
John Clark, 
John Feigle-, 
David Steplu 
Jeremiah Tri< 

am Kirby, 
; Demerest, 

.Deme:< 
Henry Clark,, 
Orinus Barti 
James B; 
John 

er Davi 
Nathan Roberts. 

1 - idi Halsted, 
Edv? - .id, 

John David, 

Job;. Lid, 

Michal Halsl 
John Gemer. 
Gershom Owen, 
Jacob Cole, 
Hezekiah Lawren, 
Samuel Westbrook, 
George Kemble, 
Anthony Westbrook, 
Nathan Perableton, 
Win. Dill, 
Benjamin Cole, 
Joshua Hill, 
Christopher Myare, 



Caleb Smith, 

Obadiah Smith, 
Benj.^Sabrelis, 

David Shephard, 

Thomas Wood, 

Philip Redrick, . 

Henry Bart h oil 

Abraham Dolsen, sen. 
William McCane, 

James McCi 
David Demerest, 

Jacob Demerest, 

John Kinman, 

Benjamin Attwood, 

Martha McConnely, 

William King, 

Gilbert Howell, 

William Horton, - 

Philip Horton, 

Christopher Decker, 

James McCane, 
c Ifoadly, 

Nathan Arnout, 
, Benjamin Carpenter, 
Vjohn Thompson, 

William Little, 

Henry Sams, 
tornas Gale, 
ith, 

Samuel Knapp, 

Charles Webb, 
hen Smith, 

Roolif Van Brunt, 

Samuel Chandler, 

Da t, 

Abel Jackson, 

Richard Alison, 

Matthew Tirrel, 

Nathaniel Knapp, jr., 

Daniel Hall, 
new Miller, 

James Parshall, 

John K inner, 
.i Vail, 

Anthony Swartwood, 

Benjamin Halsted, 

Bazalial Seely, 

Benjamin Jackson, 

David Miller, 

Francis Gillo, 

George Howell, v 

Henry Dobbin, 

John McDowell, 

James Mosier, 



Solomon Finch, 
William Hoff 
John Kimball, 
Elias Oldfield, 
Landrine Eggers, 
Peter Arnout, 
Samuel Sawyer, 
John Conner. 
Matthew Howell, 
Matthew Howi 
Jeremiah Oakley, 
Timothy Smith, 
Peter Mann, 
Daniel Cooley, jr . 
Thomas Angel, 
John Smith, 
William Huff, 
Isaac Tracey, 
Jonathan Raws 
Jacob Cole, 
Elijah Egars. 
William Reed, 
Edwajd David, jr.. 
James Hub-e, 
Daniel David, 
William Egger, 
Daniel Egger, 
Mark Chambers, 
Richard Halste 
David Cooley, 
Anning Ofren, 
Nathaniel Cook 
Jacob Hulse, 
Joseph Oldfield, 
Joseph Chilson, 
Nathan Baily, 
Nathaniel Baily, 
Solomon Smith, 
Thomas Denton, 
Silas Hally, 
Benjamin Dunn; 
Zephaniah Kely, 

Derba, 
Daniel Hally. 
Samuel Satteiby, 
Moses Clark, 
Joshua Drake, 
William Vail 
William Helms, 
Wait Smith, 
.iames llamhletun. 
James Miller, 
Stephen Jackson. 
Joseph Beck as, 



502 



TOWNS OV GOSHEN, 



.Fames Stewart, 
Daniel Myars, 
Elias Clark, 
Cornelius Myars, 
Abraham Johnston, 
Alexander Campbell, 
Stephen Conkling, 
Phineas Caser, 
Elihu Horton, 
Joshua Howell, 
William Knap, 
Hugh Fulton, 
Samuel Titus, 
Gilbert Aldrige, 
Phenias Parshall, 



Daniel Denton. 1 
John Roe, t— ^ 
Alexander Jackson, 
Jonas Denton, 
Joseph Grummon, 
Daniel Hully, 
John Kinna, 
Isaac Rhodes, 
Barnabas Horton, - 
William Fullerton, 
Nehemiah Carpenter, 
Samuel Wells, 
Anthony Swartwout, sen. 
James Hdhvell, 
Nathan Baily, 



Jonathan Hallock, 
James Kinner, 
Peter Tow useful, 
John Miller, 
Joshua Hallock, 
John Gardner, 
John Rhodes, 
John Mory, 
Michael Brooks, 
David Mapes, 
Oliver SmiAh, 
David Howell, jr.,? 
Zaccheus Horton, 
John Howdll, 
Joshua Wells, 

EXEMPTS. 

David Benjamin, 
Oliver Arnold, 
Thomas Beach, 
Hugh Dobbin, 
Jonathan Avchey, 
Henry Jayne, 
Uriah Satlerlee, 
Nathaniel Sulton, 
Richard Green, 
Hoape Roads, 
Gilbert V. Honed, 
James Hannes, 
Jacob Swartwout, 
Jesse Owen, 



Isaac Smith, 
Cain Mehany, 
Jacobus Tid, 
Samuel Harmon, 
Benjamin Hill, 
Ebenezer Hally, 
Jabez Kjiap, 
Nathaniel Alison, 
Nathaniel Knap, jr. 
Joshua tferbart, 
William Kinna, 
John Armstrong, 
Peter Barlow, 
John Bailey, 



Amariah Fuller, 
James Forgas, 
Alexander Coye, 
William Chambers. 
Samuel Baily, 
Isaac Cooly, 
Abijah Yelverton, 
Isaac Rhodes, jr., 
Charles Durland, 
James Smith, 
William Drake, 
John Springsteed, 
James Drake, 
William Jackson. 



TOWN OF GOSHEN 



Enst Division — West Division. — The east part of the town 
is called East Division, and the west, West Division. Ff you 
enquire of a citizen of the town, where such a man lives, he 
will answer, in east or west division. This is wholly un- 
meaning to a stranger, and is an answer that you will not re- 
ceive in any other town in the state. 

The origin and explanation of it is this : when the village 
of Goshen was laid out, there were four lots of 80 acres each, 
run off on each side of the main street which ran north and 
south; as a settler located or resided east or west of the street, 
he was in east or west division of the village plot. In time 
Tic names were appropriated to the town. 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 503 

Goshen Village. — The name of the town and village were 
coetaneous, and so called from Goshen of the Scriptures, of 
which there were two, one in Egypt, the other in Canaan. — 
We think Pokoke, the traveller, says that in the language of 
Egypt, it means the u best of the land." In Hebrew it means 
'approaching.' The village is in the north part of the town, 
and in the centre of the county of which it is the capitol, 
though Newburgh is a half shire with it. The buildings in 
the old part are chiefly on one street, and round the triangle 
at the south, which incloses the Presbyterian and Episcopal 
churches, the male and female academies, and monument to 
those killed at the battle of Minisink, &c. Those in the new 
part, and along the tract of the N. Y. and Erie railroad, are 
less formal and regular in location. The ground is not well 
calculated for dry and permanent streets, without paving, be- 
ing upon a meadow soil. For many years previous to build- 
ing the railroad, the village was stationary in growth, since 
which however it has largely increased in business and popu- 
lation, and a new era dawned upon it with bright and prom- 
ising hopes for the future. 

We assume, occasionally to give counsel to our fellow cit- 
izens, somewhat regardless of opinion and consequences. — 
As this town has but one village, she ought to exhaust her 
parental power and garnish it with that rich adornment, with 
which a father, in doating kindness, arrays an only daugh- 
ter. That Goshen is the capitol of the county, imposes ad- 
ditional obligations upon her citizens, from which they can- 
not free themselves without fully satisfying public expecta- 
tion. In the exercise of a sound discretion, they will of 
course build no faster than the legitimate wants of business 
demands, but in the matter of side walks, streets and public 
ways, which beauty or convenience requires, the village must 
always be a step in advance of the times. Then again as to 
beautifying and adorning this only child, we remark : that 
there is no locality in the county more appropriate to grow 
the wide spreading and pendent brandling elm, the very 
monarch of American shade trees. These repay the owner 
by a long life and grateful shade. The weeping willow, 
that, most.femrnine and graceful of the woody tribe, loves a 
low soil and damp location. Hence she draws her tears, her 
thin elongated boughs, which in clustering tassels wave so 
beautifully in the evening breeze. Though they may remind 
us of death and the grave, no matter, we cannot always be 
laughing from the cradle to the grave. Our welfare often 
consists in the absence of mirth, for the proverb is, "it is bet 



604 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

ter to go to the house of mourning than to the house, of feast- 
ing." Besides, the yew will not flourish in this latitude, and 
we must nourish some plant to shelter the grave of the dead 
and admonish the living. How like man is this beautiful 
plant; it springs from the earth, towers up towards heaven 
and attains its physical altitude, and then as if it had ran out 
its concentrated power, hursts into a thousand brandies, each 
one of which, like a pain or ailment of the human body, 
tends slowly from year to year, not only to the ground from 
which it sprung, but to exhaust the vigor of the aged trunk. 

The pines, those evergreens, emblematical of eternal life, 
pant for a locality like this, to point their bristling arrows and 
warm their sluggish blood in the broad beams of the summer 
sun, and when winter sweeps over the land and disrobes all 
others of leafy beauty, they still live and flourish in the ver- 
dant adornment of sunny May. Each contains a thousand 
harps, uttering delicious music in the storm and in the breeze. 
Akin to this, a summer relative at least, is the fur-clad tam- 
arack of our swamps and low lands. Sprinkled over and 
adorned with gay blossoms, as if snatched from a passing 
sunbeam, this pushes its more enfeebled roots through a 
moist locality and throws abroad its verdant branches to va- 
riegate (he scene, amidst its fellows, adorned with leav< 

pretension. But enough, for a word to the wise is 
icient, and we dismiss this train of thought by saying that 
few in the country surpass the unpretending bass-wood 

(the English linden) in the depth of its foliage or in the reg- 
ularity and beauty of its general outline. While these, with 
the horse chestnut, oak, walnut^ &c. are to be selected and 
cherished for a few years after being planted, like so many 
children, r< is for your life, the poplar and button wood; 

but. reserve a place for the maple, lor it is eminently leafy and 
lives without an enemy. 

We previously referred to a spring found on the land of 
David M. Westcott, Escj., in the village, a few years since, 
the history of which is iost. This was found several feet 
•: the surface, regularly stoned up, and covered over 
with a large stone. The location is just east of his late resi- 
and where the land falls off in bight from a dry to a 
soil. The subsequent cultivation ofthe land cover- 
spring, and placed it in the condition it was when 
found. The question is, when was it dug and stoned up, by 
whom and for what purpose. We have heard it suggested 
that it was done by some Frenchmen, who were travelling 
from the south to the north, or visa versa, early after the 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 505 

discovery of the country, and perhaps after France took pos- 
session of Canada, got lost in the wilderness, and to defend 
themselves against the Indians, made an erection of some 
kind, dug- out and stoned up this spring. We think the the- 
ory fanciful, and unsupported by any tradition warranting 
its belief. Besides, they traversed the country along or by 
the western rivers, and not by land through this part, of the 
country. We have made one suggestion to account for the 
fact, and now make another. 

During the old French and Indian war of 1756, all history 
and tradition concur in proving the hostile attitude of the In- 
dians. W 7 e have referred to instances of the services of the cit- 
izens of Goshen during that, period ; we now suggest, that 
before or during that war, the citizens of Goshen, by them- 
selves or by authority of the colonial government, erected a 
block house or other building for defence, on that spot, and 
the spring in question was dug and stoned for its accommo- 
dation. That after the war was over, the worthless and 
temporary log house was permitted to go down at an early 
day, and now its history is unknown to the present inhabit- 
ants. To illustrate such a fact we give an instance : This 
well was found by the abundance and verdure of the grass 
which grew over it and in the immediate vicinity. There is 
an old rule about digging a well to ensure the finding of 
water, which is to dig u where the grass grows the greenest. 
and the dew lies the longest." 

c< Pausanias, in his .Attics, chapter .26', mentions a well in 
the citadel, in the temple, of Erech'theus at Athens, cut in the 
rock, said to con. it. water and to yield the sound of 

waves when the south wind blew. 

This well, after remaining closed up and unknown for 
one thousand years, was discovered in 1828. The war be- 
tween the Turks and the Greeks was then raging. The 
Turks were shut up in this citadel : the want of provisions 
and water forced them to surrender. The Greeks, after be- 
ing in possession, foresaw that they might be in the same 
situation ; but observing, while besieging the Turks, sorne 
water filtering through the soil at the foot of the lock, dug 
down from above the spot whence it seemed to proceed, and 
soon came to a subterraneous stairs of 150 steps, conducting 
to a small square room, in which was a well yielding abun- 
dance of pure water." 

If this town is divested of the adornment of villages, ponds 
and streams of water, she is equally free front rocky emi- 
nences and mountain elevations, which too often intercept 



506 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

an inland view, and too generally spoil the beauty of an ag- 
ricultural district. Of the latter we know but one. 

Mount Lookout. — This rough and stony eminence is situ- 
ated on the public road leading from Goshen to Florida, 
about three miles south of the former place, and is a lime- 
stone formation. Though the lime burnt from it is not of 
first quality, it yields a durable and beautiful building stone, 
of a handsome dove color. The Orange County Poor House 
is situated on the west side and close to its base. The reason 
why so called we have not been able to learn. The name is 
from the Latin u mons," a mountain. Like all limestone 
formations, this is open and cavernous. If you want to find 
a cave, as a general rule, you must examine a locality like 
this. On the east side there is a small summer stream, which 
usually vents itself into a low spot in the vicinity, but when 
the stream is large and the spot so full as to overflow, it vents 
itself through the base of the hill, discolors and muds the 
fine ktrge spring, upon which the Poor House establishment 
main!}' relies for water. 

The brooks and ponds of this town have been previously 
mentioned in other towns, or will be hereafter, and we know 
of no oilier locality worth naming-. 



■&■ 



Dr. Benjamin Tustrn, vvasa native of Southhold, on Long Island He 
was born on the 11th 1743, and was the only son of Col. Ben - 
i Tusten, a respectable farmer of that place. His father removed into 
Jinny in the year 1746 'bringing with s son, who was then three 
years old, and settled on the 1 of the Otter-kill, two and a* half miles 
n tlie village of Goshen, on the patent granted Madame Elizabeth Denn. 
Such was the respect in \\ I d, that he was soon appointed one 
of the judges of the court of this connty, and promoted a Colonel in the 
regiment of militia on the wesl of tl i mountains, including at that 
all the county of Orange, noi ands, from Hudson's river 
to the line of New Jersey. His son Benjamin lie had intended fora fanner, 
being then in possession of a lar< md ; but not being of a hardy 
constitution, he relinquished tl I to fit him for a pro- 

fession. For that purposed idemy to obtain a classical 

education, at Jamaica, L. I", then this county: there he ob- 

tained a thorough acquaint;' mathematics, and a good knowl- 

edge of the Latin and Greek lang-i it the age of 19 he returned, and 

en nmenced the study of [ with the late Dr. Thomas "Wickham, of 

this town, whose ch; i tnd teacher of medicine, stood 

unrivalled in his day. Medical bonks at that time, were difficult to be pro- 
cured — none were published in this country, and as they were brought on- 
ly bv one profession, importations of them were scarce; indeed most of the 
physicians imported their own libraries. From this circumstance the libra- 
ries of physicians were small, especially those who resided so far back in 
i!i- coufttry. This induce 1 young Tusten, at the end of a year, to leave Dr. 
Wickham ami go to Newark, N. J. where he spent another year with Dr 



HAMPTONBURCrH AND CHESTER. 507 

Burnet. Here he became acquainted with a Miss Brown, whom he after- 
wards married. There were at that time no medical schools in this country, 
and he was. induced to finish his education with Dr. Thomas Jones, a cele- 
brated surgeon in the city of New York. In 1769 he returned home and 
commenced the practice of physic at the house of his lather. Although he 
had availed himself of every opportunity of acquiring medical knowledge 
which the times would allow him, yet he commenced practice under unfa- 
vorable circumstances— within three miles of his first preceptor : Dr. John 
Gale, in the village of Goshen, (if village it might then be called) and Dr. 
Pierson in the East Division, not three miles distant, all of whom had their 
friends and employers ; he performed some operations in surgery which 
gave him a degree of celebrity, (Dr. Gale being the only one who pretended 
to do anything in surgery.) Dr. Tusten was mild, modest, and unassuming 
in his manners, pleasant to his patients, and affable with ali ; he was also 
well acquainted with all improvements in surgery up to his time, which gave 
him a decided advantage over his competitor in that department 6f science. 

Inoculation for smallpox had never been practiced in this county ; indeed 
it was violently opposed and never resorted to but where circumstances had 
rendered it imperiously necessary. Dr. Trnsten commenced inoculation in 
the year 1770. For this | e he hired four houses — one at Hampton- 

burgh, near where he lived, another near the Stony Ford Bridge, another at 
East Division, and a fourth on the little island near the Cedar Swamp. In 
those houses he inoculate- sOO persons, with such success as entirely 

to destroy the prejudices of the people agaiast it. He kept these houses two 
years, after which inoculation was admitted into private fa pock 

houses were considered h' try. He continued the practice of 

physic with success and d reputation, until the year 1779. During 

this time he married Miss Brown, by w vo so and 

daughters. When he died he left his wife with the fifth, pledge of their af- 
fection, who is still living, and who - i > their. 

In the year 1775 the dis mg rankled in th I ■ soi 

Americans, began to break out in open n to the British go> 

Their long, cruel and oppressive m . which they had a in regard 

to these colonies, became matters of serious complaint, and excited a spiril 
of resistance, which, calle I of all citizens, who had a just 

sense of the injuries they had recei i, nd of the duties they owed their 
country. Dr. Tnsten early evinc< • rit becoming a freeman ; he took a 
decided part in favor of the r h had at that time just begun 

to unfold itself j he risked his all ii . iat declaration, wherein the 

signers pledged to each other a mitry, "their lives, their for- 

tunes and their sacred bono i and hi id that pledge by the sacrifice 

of his own life. By riding am lad becorri© more healthy : ac- 

tive and enterprising he had rlence of his countrymen, fn 

1777 he was appointed Lisuten i . Goshen regiment of Militia, 

under General Allison, and in 1778 he was appointed a surrogate of this 
county, which office he held to the time of his death. 

The military character of this gentlman and the part lie 
acted in the baffle of Mini . are found in an account of 
that battle in which he lost his life, and to which the reader 
is referred. We have extracted the biography of this indi- 
vidual from an Address delivered by Dr. David R. Arnell, 
before the Medical Society of the county of July 4, 18:20. 



508 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

Major VYood. — This individual was made a prisoner at 
the battle otMinisink, because Brandt, from some accidental 
sign, mistook him to be a Freemason. On the evening after 
the battle, when Brandt was about (o tie him, lest he should 
escape, Wood remonstrated, and said he was a gentleman 
and promised not (o escape. They did not tie him, but di- 
rected him to lay between two Indians, who informed him 
that if he attempted to escape they would tomahawk him. — 
The blanket on which he slept caught fire during the night, 
and he dare not move from his position to extinguish it, lest 
he should experience the reality of the threat, and be toma- 
hawked. At last the (ire reached his feet, and he kicked it 
out.. The blanket belonged to Brandt. Wood was harshly 
ted by Brandt ever after, and when asked the reason of 
his conduct, he said, "d — n you, you burnt my blanket. " — 
Wood resided in the county for many years, and was a very 
)ectable citizen. 

Some persons, after the battle, knowing how Wood's life 
came to be saved, were envious enough to say it was a trick 
on his part to effect his safety, and that it was cowardly and 
mean. But we are of opinion, from all the circumstances of 
the case, the character of Mr. Wood, ihathe was not a Free- 
mason, and from the reason of the enmity of Brandt, as ex- 
pressed in the above anecdote, thai, Wood was innocent of 
any fraud upon Brandt, and that the suggestion was a slander. 

Doer. David R. Arnell. — '•' Died, on the evening of Sat- 
urday the 2d of September. 18:20, David R. Arnell. of the 
village of Goshen, aged 55 years. By the death of this high- 
itizen, society has lost, a valuable member, 
religion a distinguished supporter, science a zealous votary, 
and the profession in which he was an extensive practitioner, 
an eminent and valuable member. 

Dr. Arnell was a man of much public spirit, and a friend 
lo every measure calculated for the common benefit. As a 
professor of religion, he was devout, tolerant and zealous, 
always maintaining his own, but never tre< ing with disre- 
spect the opinion of others. lie was much given to reflection 
ami reading. In those hours when the most of mankind 
were- resting in quiet slumber, with the midnight taper as 
his companion, Dr. A. was to be found laboriously engaged 
in the pursuits of literature and knowledge. Public opinion 
had raised him to the head of his profession as a physician. 
His practice was extensive and arduous, and his unremitted 
exertions in the line of his duty, whether in healing the rich 
or the poor, it made no difference, will ever remain engraven 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 509 

upon the minds of those who have witnessed his labors. In 
fine, he was a good citizen and excellent parent, and a friend 
to mankind generally.'''' — Republican. 

After the formation of the County Society, the Dr. was 
appointed State Delegate, and on Feb. 5, 1807, he, with John 
Ely, Westel Willoughby, Alexander Seldon and James M. 
Mann, were appointed the committee ot correspondence of 
the State Society. This committee issued a circular notice 
to all the physicians of the State, which for its good sense, 
wholesome advice and direction, we commend to the student. 
just entering upon his medical profession. It is found in the 
1 Index' of Feb. 19, 1807. 

The Doctor was a native of Lhe town of Minisink, and be- 
gan his practice in the town of Walk ill, at Prospect Hill, 
near Scotchtown. He continued to reside there from before 
1800 till about 1808, when hi' removed to Goshen. While 
at Prospect. Hill, and down till his removal, he was engaged 
in manufacturing brown earthen ware, a very useful, cheap 
and convenient article. He was small in stature, of a dark 

roplexion, with small black eyes set. deeply in his head, 
and of a grave ahd serious turn of mind. He seemed to be 
a person of thought and to commune much with himself. — 
His life was wholly devoted to things of a useful and benefi- 
cial character, and he gave no heed to those of mere show or 
ornament. He was eminently a valuable member of society, 
whether we view him in his professional character or as a 
mere citizen. The Medical Society of the county is indebted 
to him for a large share of its early and present reputation. 
He laid the corner stone as it were of the institution, erected 
the building and then furnished the laws by which it was to 
be governed. 

"At a meeting of a number of members of the Medical So- 
ciety of Orange county, at. the house of Dr. T. G. Evans, on 
Monday, Sept. 4, 1826, it was Resolved, that the President of 
the society be requested to recommend to ail the members of 
said society to wear crape on the left arm for the space of 30 
days, as a mark of respect and esteem for our deceased fellow 
member Dr. David R. Arnell. 

Agreeable to the above resolution I do hereb) r recommend 
and enjoin the observance of the same by all the members? of 
the medical society of Orange county. 

Pinter A. Millspaugh, Prest." 

" Died, Widow Christian Wood of Goshen, on the 5th of 
July, 1S25, aged fourscore am', five years. She was at Wy 



510 TOWNS OF GOSHEN 



oming with her family when the battle took place there, and 
narrowly escaped with her life. She had a son and husband 
killed in the battle. She herself was approached by an In- 
dian with his uplifted tomahawk, she had an infant in her 
arms, the little innocent smiled at the sight of the savage, 
which was observed by the monster, who immediately chang- 
ed the direction of his weapon of death, as if he meant to 
make the child the first victim, the agonized mother clung to 
her offspring, pressed it closer and closer to her breast, while 
she looked the ferocious savage in the face — he contemplat- 
ed the scene for a moment, then let fall his tomahawk, turn- 
ed round and walked off — and the anxious mother escaped 
with her child." 

Presbyterian Church. — On looking over the old Church- 
es of the county, we kept an eye, steadily fixed for a long 
time, on the old Goshen Church, and in imagination rioted 
over the historic reminiscences which we were about to glean 
from it. particularly as illustrating the early settlement of 
this town ; but we have been utterly disappointed, and now 
mourn over the loss. We made early and late efforts to pro 
cure its outline history, and received assurances which no 
gentleman could doubt; but promises made, in relation to 
transactions about which we have no personal interest, fur- 
ther than mere courtesy, are spoken to the ear only, and are 
very apt to be forgotten. We make no point of morals in 
the matter, nor yet find fault with any one ; still we cannot 
help uttering our lamentations aloud over the loss to our pa- 
per of the oldest church record in the county. All the histo- 
ry of this ancient temple, with its priesthood, is contained in 
the following copy of an inscription found on a stone which 
covers the mouth of the sepulchre, which contains the ashes 
of the pious dead. 

L on the Stone over the Vavli rag to ihn Ehwn 

Here repose the remains of 
REV. JOHN BRAD N E R,. 

a native of Scotland, the first pastor of the 

PRESBYTERIAN ri i:,,( m GOSHEN, 

Settled A.D. 1721, Died 173':. 

Also oi 

REV N ATHAN K E R , 

Hi? successor, who preached the Gospel; 

in this place for 38 years, 

Died Dec'ber 14, 1804, 

aged 69 years, 



IIAMPTONBURGII AND CHESTER. 511 

Also of his successor, 

REV. EZRA FI SK, D. D., 

who was born January 10, 1785, 

at Sherburne, in Massachusetts, 

Settled as Pastor of the Goshen Church, 

August 13, 1813, 

Died December 14, 1804, 

Aged 49 years. 



TOWN OF HAMPTONBURGH. 

Decker's. — This is a small settlement in a beautiful part of 
the country, on the road from Washiugtonville to Goshen. — 
At this place the Messrs. Decker have had a cloth manufac- 
tory for many years. The locality and vicinity were settled 
as early perhaps as 1730 ; for shortly after that time, in 1744, 
it was a missionary station, under the care of the London 
Missionary Society, with New Windsor and St. Andrews. — 
We refer the reader to our history of St. Andrew's Church. 
At that time it was called " St. David's Corners," — that be- 
ing the name of the Episcopal Church there. The building 
was put up after 1770, but never finished, and during the 
Revolutionary war was used as a hospital by the Americans. 
Shortly after that it was partly blown over, and permitted to 
go to decay and was never rebuilt. The church authority is 
htill in possession of the location and burying ground. Vin- 
cent Matthews,. Esq., was an early patron of this church, 
and after him, Air. Jonathan Brooks performed many kind 
;md beneficial offices to preserve and perpetuate the estab- 
lishment, by the payment of its debts, etc. These gentlemen 
lived in that vicinity. The name of the former has nearly 
run out in the county, while the descendents of the latter are 
numerous and respectable. Messrs. John I. Brooks of 
Blooming grove, and Fletcher M. .Brooks of this town: are of 
this family. 

Purgcetory. — At that place, about a mile east of Heard's, 
and for some distance round, there was a kind of dismal 
swamp of considerable extent, through which ran a small, 
sluggish stream. Over this there was a log bridge with a 
causeway on each side. We believe that Mr. Peter- Bull, 
now dead, who lived just east of the bridge and owned a 
large pottion of the swamp,, had the honor of this appropri- 



TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

ate cognomen. This old gentleman was quite a free-thinker, 
and a great lover of nature in all her various works, but did 
not fear Purgatory much, as a place of spiritual punishment. 
We are indebted to this gentleman for many articles which 
:e up our paper. Mr. Bull fancifully gave out that he 
lived in Paradise, as his residence and farm were pleasantly 
situated on the sunny "side of the dismal swamp — that the 
country over the stream and beyond the swamp was the 
world at large ; and of course it was necessary for all persons 
who come from thence to his place, to pass through Purga- 
tory. Such was the allegory which gave origm to the name. 
No person who was acquainted with this locality forty or fifty 
years since, could rationally object to the propriety of the 
name, for it was very like Purgatory, a place easy to get in- 
but difficult to get out of; and to express the dark, danger, 
ous and spectral nature of the locality, and his contempt of 
the fears of purgatory as a place of punishment, he named it 
as we have stated. The bridge and swamp are called by the 
same name. 

La Grange. — A small settlement and village on the state 
road leading from Montgomery to Goshen, about four miles 
North of the latter place. It was formerly called Goosetown. 
he early settlement of the county, raising geese was very 
common and necessary as well as profitable. We cannot lie 
down without complimenting the value of this domestic ani- 
mal, for its product is a real l.uxury. The great quantity 
raised in this locality and vicinity was so notorious and pub- 
licly known, that by common consent the people called the 
place Goosetown. This was easy and natural etymology and 
no one who knew the facts would question its truthfulness or 
quarrel with its propriety. But in process of time the busi- 
ness of raising geese, like the growing of many other articles 
went down; whether owing to a proper want of protection 
tariff or otherwise wc cannot say, and the name became 
not only inappropriate, but carried an imputation against the 
good sense and respectability of the inhabitants. Inthis re- 
spect their sufferings became intolerable, and to place them- 
selves in what they supposed a deserving point of view before 
the public, they determined to right themselves by the means 
within their power. This was commendable, and we here 
probate their proper sense of pride and dignity in the mat- 
ter. It is both legally and philosophically true, that when 
the cause cea3es the effect ought to cease also. In pursuance 
of this design, and to escape from a false and slandered con- 
dition, shortly after the visit of La Fayette to this county, 



HAMPTON BURGH AND CHESTER. 513 

the inhabitants of the town met together, and by universal 
suffrage passed resolutions that the place should no more 
be known by Goosetcwn, but by La Grange, which was 
in honor of the paternal residence of Gen. La Fayette. We 
have, never heard a complaint of the good sense and wisdom 
of the measure. We wonder, as at a thing passing strange, 
that Oxford, England, did not, three centuries ago, rise as 
one man, in all the pride and unsurpassed dignity of her 
twenty colleges of learning, disov/n her name, and assume 
another, more befitting her fame and wide spread reputation. 
HearcPs. — A place on the public road from Newburgh to 
Goshen, four miles from the latter village. Tt has its name 
from Mr. Charles Heard, who keeps an inn at the place. — 
This person is a capital landlord — accommodating, merry 
and witty. In addition to his creature comforts, he furnishes 
also large accommodations for dealers in stock. The place 
is also called Bull's Head, from the fact that Heard's sign 
has the likeness of that animal painted on it. Barring the 
painting of the noble animal, all is expressive of, and in good 
keeping with, the business conducted there. The stock 
groweis of the county make large purchases of cattle at this 
place during the year, which they convert into beef, and 
send to market. Jt is also called Hamptonburgh for the rea- 
son previously stated. 
• Beaver Dam. — This is a small but durable stream : it rises 
I in the town of Montgomery, runs South, draining in its course 
1 all the meadows through which it passes, and empties into 
the Otter Kill, near Campbell's Hall. Not one inch of the 
course of this stream is through upland. Its head water is a 
spring of several yards in diameter and of unknown depth. 
It is surrounded by a quagmire and difficult as well as dan- 
gerous to approach at some seasons of the year. We have 
seen a pole fifteen feet long pitched into this spring, and after 
being submerged for some time, return end foremost to the ' 
surface. The water of the stream is fit to drink at all sea- 
sons of the year, through its whole course. It obtained its 
name from the beavers which frequented and tenanted its 
waters in the early settlement of the country. A dam made 
by the beavers on this brook, at a time whereof the memory 
of man runneth not to the contrary, we have seen within ten 
years. It is on the farm of Gen. John McBride, near Camp- 
bell's Hall, where -tenters the Otter Kill ; and if any mem- 
ber of this Association should happen to be in the neighbor- 
hoed, and have nothing more interesting to engage him, we 
would recommend that he take the trouble to inspect it. — 

2G 



bl4 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

True, there is no dam across the stream there now, and wo 
never knew or heard when there was, but the wings are 
there, gravelled up and paved on both sides of the brook as 
perfectly as a street, and as far as known, they have always 
been there. The wings are directly opposite and paved with 
cobble stone. The beaver may be considered as extinct in 
the county. The stream is three yards wide. 

Otter Kill. — This stream rises in the town of Goshen, and 
till it reaches Decker's Mills is known by the name of Otter 
Kill ; from that place, or from about the village of Salisbury 
till it enters the North River, it is known by the name of 
Murderer's Creek. Befoie it loses the name of Otter Kill, it 
receives, the Beaver Dam from the North, and Grey court 
Creek from the South, and becomes quite a large and im- 
portant stream, and furnishes some water power in that por- 
tion, of its course. 

A.t Lagrange it is within a mile of the Walkill, and there 
is but a foot or two difference in their elevations. Indeed 
the stream you pass at Lagrange and which runs into the Ot- 
ter Kill, at high water in the Spring,, sheds some of its water 
;nto the Walkill. The Otter Kill derives its name from the 
number of otters which frequented it.s_ waters at the early set- 
tlement of the county. This stream runs through the town 
of Bloom in ggrove*, and is known by the name of Big Cr< 

Campbell's Hall. — A place on the Otter Kill, where it is 
crossed by a bridge, on the public road leading to Gos 
! t was formerly the residence of Col. Campbell, and hence 
its name, in the English style of naming a residence. Col. 
Campbell was a Scotchman, the father of Mrs. Margaret Eus- 
tace, who was the mother of General Eustace of the Revolu- 
tionary army of France, both of whom, we believe, died in, 
or in the. vicinity of, the village of Newburgh, 30 or 35 years 
since. When the writer was a small lad Mrs. Eustace resided 
at Campbell Hall. For dignity of manner, good sense and 
lady-like deportment she had few equals at the time in that 
part of the country. Dect. Eustace, her husband, was from 
the South, paid she resided there with him for many years. — 
There was a family secret, which we never fully understood, 
and which deeply embittered the last years of the life of 
Mrs. Eustace ana that of her son the General. Be mortuis, 
nil nisi bonum. 

SNAKE WITH KEET. 

The phenomena of Nature, their motion and laws, action and 
action, power and design, exhibited in the order of Providence, is the pre-at 
est of all miracles, (at least with the writer it is,) whether we extend our 
View:; to the wide range of the. larger spheres of 'existence, or attend to the 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. $15 

mere common occurrences of life, in the vegetable and animal systems. — 
Their organization in the order of sex, evidently designed for the regenera- 
tion of the species, is equally astonishing". — Independent of all the attacks 
of infidels, still "Man's enough to wonder and adore:" 

On Friday, the22d inst. about nine o'clock in the morning, my neighbor, 
when out at work, (as he informed me,) was surprised by a Black Snake, 
of that species commonly called Racers, which came at him with open 
mouth, his head elevated from the ground, his neck bent in the form of and 
about as high as a common goose; in the surprise he was obliged to give 
back a few steps, when he made a stand, thinking it was in vain to retreat 
any farther, when the snake seeme I to parley, and eyeing each other atten- 
tively it soon made off to its harbor or den. He then provided himself with 
proper weapons, and when the snake advanced again he had fortitude 
enough to dispatch it. But what appeared most extraordinary, was, it had 
two legs issuing from each side of the body, at that part where the tail com- 
rne'rlces. On the Saturday following, about sunset, I had the pleasure of 
seeing this serpent, though with some regret that 1 had not seen it sooner 
\ in order to have preserved it, for it had been nearly two days in the sun and 
I was ofiensive^-However I conceived the feet or hoofs were worth preserv- 
, ing, which were about the size of a large pea, into which the legs stuck, 
i fastened at the bottom, and had somewhat the appearance of a shoe or boot- 
i ee, of a dark color. The legs were of a flesh color, withoufrany bone and 
i of a membranous substance of an elastic quality, which might be extended 
! to some length, and when let go, would spring back to its former position ; 
1 the foot upon the leg could be turned in any direction with all ease. 1 cut 
| off the feet with a small chisel, which adhered to the chisel when they were 
off, occasioned by the glutinous matter that issued from the leg, of a whit - 
, ish color, streaked with blood. 

Now if this be a true figure or image of the Old Serpent, who has done so 
I much mischief in the world, it is an error to say he had cloven hoofs; but 
; daws he must have had in abundance, for I counted, upon one of these iit- 
I tie hoofs, upwards of sixty claws, white like bone, and so stron°- that I 

I lifted the snake from the ground by hooking them to a piece of a chip. 

The snake was four feet eight inches Jong am! about five quarters of an 
1 inch in diameter. It is impossible to know all the uses of these feet v , trirl- 
| ing as they may appear, it is evident that these claws were designed for the 
i purpose of assisting this serpent (when so disposed) to climb trees like a 
squirrel, and even to climb up a plane ceiling like a worm. 

There are net less than twelve persons who have seen this snake when 
the feet were to it, who can have no interest at present, to betray the truth ; 
and the barrenness of all artificial, vocal or written language, to describe the 
truth about what we do not know, seems hard to explain, and even abou f 
what we actually know : Therefore the feet of this serpent are at present 
at the house of the subscriber, for the inspection of the curious. 

PETER BULL; Purgatory, May 25, t,318. [Republican,. 



TOWNS OF G03HEM, 



TOWN OF CHESTER. 

Oxford. — This is a small and pleasant village in the central 
part of the town, and known by that name for many years. 
The English name denotes that the settlers came from that 
country, and called it after Oxford, England. That city is 
situate at the conflux of two small rivers, the Iris and Cher- 
well, and was the Oxpj2ia^Oxonium,Bellositii7n,Iiisdis}adu7n 
of the Romans. The city is said to be very ancient and ibud- 
ed many years before the Roman conquest. 

The name is said by some to be derived from the Saxon 
••old Oxenford, and used by tbem in the same sense that the 
Greeks named or called their Bosphori and the Germans their 
Ochenford) namely, thfc Ford of Oxen. 

Warton, the historian of English poetry, suggests that the 
word is a corruption of Ousenford, meaning the ford at or 
near Ousei>ey, on the meadows of Ouse — Ouse being the 
'■ommon Saxon name for water or river. The city is written 
Orsnafotda or Qksnaforda on a coin of Alfred in the Eodlein 
Library at Oxford. It is Oxnafor.d and Oxenford frequently 
in the Saxon chronicle, and Oxniford on the pennies of the 
two Williams. 

It is supposed by some who have written" on this very small 
point of etymology that the Saxon word Onsen, Ovsn or Os/i 
soon became corrupted into Orsn, Oxsn or Okin, and the 
original meaning of Onseneyford being forgotten, Oxeneford 
was substituted for it in the public mind, and then, by way 
of making that word shorter, more agreeable and easy to pro- 
nounce, it was corrupted into the more obvious and familiar 
terms of Oxenford or Oxford, the present name. 

If this etymological metamorphosis is true or neatly so, it 
proves the truth of the remark made in tin 1 introductory part 
of this paper, that the great source of the corruption of words, 
j> the natural propensity of the mind to substitute the easy 
and pleasant in sound, for that which is more difficult and ob- 
scure, when similarity or affinity of sound will authorise it in 
any way. 

This word was Latinized into Vadum Bourn, the Ford of 
Oxen. That, city is said by some to have been built by 
Memphrice, king of the Britains, and called Car- Memph rice ; 
Car in the Celtic means City. Others contend it was found- 
ed by Vertigem, and called Car -Vertigem; while others 
further contend that it was originally known by the sonorous 
appellation of Bdiosikem t, a name expressive of its favorable 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER. 517 

situation, on an eminence, adorned with woods, between two 
rivers, the Iris and Chervvell. But we forbear further remark 
upon this disputed point — the summa cacumine of etymology- 
Still, before leaving - , we assume to observe, that the word 
under consideration is proof of the truth of another introduc- 
tory remark, that if certainty in relation to our county names, 
— the present known accidental reason therefor, or incident as- 
signed in our young traditions of the county — are to be pre- 
served, it is high time the effort was made to place them in 
some true and durable form, before they pass from the mem- 
ory of the present inhabitants, and be subjected to future 
doubt and learned speculation. 

This-account of the word Oxford verifies another introduc- 
tory remark, to wit : that we had without fitness or reason, 

| bestowed foreign names upon our county localities. The 

1 situation of our Oxford is wholly dissimilar with the English ; 

1 for there, there was either a ford for oxen, 01 a ford at or near 
the meadows of Ouse, either of which exactly expressed the 

i situation of the place, the thing signified. We crave pardon 
for the length of our remarks on this word, and for the free- 

' domof our criticisms ; while we cannot resist the temptation 
to say, as we have said before, that looking over the names of 

1 places in New York, you would suppose them bestowed by 
some crazy school master, so learned and inappropriate are they. 

I Sugar Loaf Village. — This is at the west side of Sugar 

J Loaf Mountain, on the road from Warwick to Chester. The 
village is small and stationary in its growth, and has its name 
from the mountain, at the west foot of which it stands. 

Sugar Loaf Mountain. — This isolated- peak rises marjesti- 

! cally in a conical form, resembling a loaf of sugar, for several 
hundred feet above the level of the surroundinir lands. The 
apex of the cone is covered with a woody top-knot or crest, 
which gives it a pleasant and g«iy appearance. The moi 
fastidious in the bestowment of names expressive of the thing 
signified, could not object to this one. If he did, he ought. 

not to be permitted to taste a bit of sugar candy, but be fed 
on pickles ever after. 

On a farm in this vicinity, owned by Mr. Jonathan Archer, 
there was an Indian burying ground at the early settlement 
of the country. The old lady, our informant, upwards of 

S5 years old, said she saw it frequently before the Revolution, 
and once afterwards. She thought there were about thirty 

graves, and each one was a small green pyramid of earth, 
heaped up like the covering of a potato hole. Around each 
grave there were pieces of split wood, set in the ground so 



518 TOWNS OF GOSHEN, 

close as almost to touch each other and higher than her head. 
There was no regularity in the position of the graves. These, 
doubtless, were the honored receptacles of chiefs and warri- 
ors ; for, from all we have learned upon enquiry through the 
county, it appears that such were not interred in a common 
yard with other Indians. While each tribe or settlement had 
a common receptacle for depositing the dead, several settle- 
ments, though many miles apart, buried their chiefs in 
ground appropriated for the purpose ; so that while the latter 
were few in number, the former were numerous. When a 
chief was buried, the Indians attended from a great distance 
around. 

The strong arm cf agricultural improvement has long 
since levelled and swept away these green and revered tumuli 
of the dead, and the ploughman, as he drives his share thro' 
their consecrated ashes, is careless of the sacred nature of the 
spot, once bedewed with the burning tears of Indian sorrow. 
and for the protection of which they would have laid down 
their lives as a sacrifice. 

Greycourt. — This name was applied to the old Cromline 
house and the locality around it, and is still applied to the 
meadows in the vicinity. The etymology of this name was 
a real stumbling block for a long time, and we went hunting 
v and fishing in all directions to find the solution. Determined 
to succeed, we struck a drag net over the co.unty, and thrust 
our historical pump into every fountain of local knowledge 
in possession of the aged, where we supposed it was snugly 
deposited. Still no one could give a reason or solve the dif- 
ficulty. We pressed the physician to answer our inquiry ; 
we asked the farmer to stop his plough and solve our doubts ; 
we begged of the mechanic, for pity's sake, to cease his la- 
bor and assign a reason, and still the enquiry was fruitless. 
We then addressed the aged residents of the locality, and 
learned judges who had worn the ermine for many years, 
born and nurtured on the spot, and questioned them with the 
astuteness of the legal profession. We next went down to 
the bar and took counsel of its intelligent members, and their 
conclusion was the case was desperate. We thought it mar- 
vellous and passing strange, that there should be a name so 
odd and unaccountable in the very heart of the intelligent 
county of Orange, and known every where ; and yet the tra- 
dition be lost and unknown by its citizens. Though the 
matter w T as small and insignificant, about which a sensible 
matt, having any thing else to do, would not bestow a second 
thought ; yet it troubled us like an evil genius, haunted us 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTER, 5 IS 

night and day, and as a last resort we concluded to offer a re- 
ward, thinking its magnitude would produce the lost aged ob- 
ject of our search. Reader, we actually offered to bestow a co- 
py of our paper — and by this time, if you have carefully per- 
used its pages, you know its value — to any person who would 
furnish the true etymology of "Greycourt !" Will you believe 
it? we had not the pleasure to bestow the volume ! 

The answers to our enquiries were various and unsatisfac- 
tory : some said in honest truth they did not know — others, 
that it had always been known by that name and that ought 
to be satisfactory. Others said the name was " Greycoat," 
and came from the peculiar color of the grass on the mead- 
ows, which was grey like a coat; while others affirmed that 
an old man, by the name of St. John, who lived in the vicin- 
ity, called it Greycoat, after a place he came from in Eng- 
land. This looked like approximation to the fact, and withal 
quite probable, and the only objection we had to it was, that 
the name was English, that St. John was a Frenchman, and 
not in the county till near half a century after the place bore 
the name. 

It is now sufficient to remark, that by the merest accident 
in the world, we were placed in possession of the following 
facts : The reader will recollect that the " Greycourt " house 
was erected in 1716, and that it soon became a public inn, a;- 
all the early locations were. At that day the king was held 
in great respect by the settlers, and they proved it by exhibit- 
ing his royal arms in different ways. They were painted on 
the signboard of this inn, and as the Greycourt creek was the 
outlet of Goosepond, both being in the vicinity of the Crom- 
line house, the keeper placed the image of that favorite and 
beautiful bird beside the arms of royalty. There she hung, 
as true to nature.as paint and brush could make it — a perfect 
similitude of life. The bird almost breathed and flapped her 
wings to escape confinement, and revisit her kindred on the 
glassy surface of the lake. Unfortunately, the pigments of 
that day were like the prints of this, not standing colors ; and 
the beautiful white goose soon became old and marvellously 
grey. Till this time the house was known as the Cromline 
house. 

At that early day there were persons who assumed a knowl- 
edge of the fine arts, and had not much to do, but spend their 
time, money and opinions freely at the inn, like the true 
bred loafers of our day, and they began to try their wit and 
fling their gibes, not only at the faded colors of the bird,but at 
the arms of royalty. At last they came out boldly, and said 



520 TOWNS CF GOSHEN, 

that the king's coat of arms was gray — in other words it was 
a u gray coat " of arms. 

This house and the neighborhood around went by this 
name till shortly sfier the war of the Revolution, when it be- 
came changed to " Grey Court." 

The incident which changed it was as follows: The 
Cheescocks', and Wawayanda patents adjoined each other, 
but the former Was the oldest. In a dispute about their re- 
spective locations, it became necessary to establish the boun- 
daries of Cheescocks' first, for where that ended, Wawayanda 
began. There was a tribunal agreed upon by the parties to 
settle the question, and the court held its sessions at the 
" l Grey coat," which were continued for several weeks. — 
The exact year we do not know, but it was when De Witt 
Clinton, Peter Bull of Hamptonburgh and William Muliiner, 
Esq., of New Windsor, were young men ; for they, with 
the whole country side for many miles round, were present. 
So long did the trial last and the court continue its sessions, 
that it became a common answer, from all going towards 
Greycoat, to the inquiry, "Where are you going 1" — "To 
the Grey Court." By common consent, the community 
transferred apart of the odium to the court, which had pre- 
viously been bestowed upon the sign, and by it intended to 
say, that the court was as durable and fixed at the place, as 
the grey goose was on the sign. From that time to this, the 
place has been known by "Greycourt" in all public and 
private writings. This case is very similar to some of the 
English etymologies, and may be relied on as accurate. 

The Greycourt meadows, above referred to, are principally 
within this town, and make an area of five hundred acres of 
peat, of several feet deep. At some places they are bottom- 
less, as far as tested by the piles of the N. Y. and Erie Rail 
Road, and probably cover up ponds and lakes beneath. — 
There are meadows in Europe, which have been cultivated 
for centuries, which have been recently found to be only the 
external coverings of lakes and ponds of water. 



August 16, 1825. Amzi Roe, a young man residing near the village of 
Cheater, was killed fay lightning. He had just finished topping off a stack 
of hay when ;i b-hower came up. To keep clear of the rain, he laid down as 
nearly under the side of the stack as possible, when the fluid, attracted by 
the heat of the hay, no doubt, struck the slack, and made its way to the 
young man. 

1 828. Anthony Davr, died, aged 61. 



HAMPTONBURGH AND CHESTEB, 



521 



AGHICULTURAL PREMIUMS OF GOSHEN. 



1820. Joseph Conklin. 
Philip H. Finch, 
James W. Carpenter, 
Theo. Howell, jr., 
Phineas Terry, 
Theo. Howell, jr., 
Selah Ma pes, 
James W. Carpenter. 
E. Fisk, 

/ Joseph Wood, jr., 
Thomas Thorn, 

1821. Anthony D. Jones, 
^Henry W. Thompson, 

John G. Hurten, 
James A. Chevee, 
Joseph Denton, 
Benjamin Strong, 
Phineas Terry, 
Anthony Davis, 
Philip' Fink, 
Nathaniel Roe,. 
Phineas Terry, 
Gabriel Stewart, 

18-22. Theo. Howell, 

"* Henry W. Thompson, 
Gabriel Stewart, 
Thomas YVatters, 
James Bradner, 
Daniel Carpenter, 
•Phineas Terry, 
James W. Carpenter, 
Thomas Watte 
Ezra Fisk, 

V Joseph Wood, jr 
Thomas Watters, 
Abraham Vail, 
James Bradner, 
Thomas Walters, 
Miss Elliott, 
Philp Fink, at the Fai 
of New York, took 

1823, Ezra Fisk, 

Jonas Seely, jr. 
"^Henry W. Thompson, 
Lewis Denton, 
Theophilus Howel), 
Abraham Vail,- 
Daniel Seward, 
Phenias Terry, 
do do, 

do do, 

Co do, 



Second Best Corn, 


$io 


Best Fatted Oxen, 


12 


Best Cow, 


10 


Second best Ram, 


• 


Best Sow, 


5 


Second best Mare, 


8 


Best Working Oxen, 


15 


Best six Ewes, 


3 


Best Boar, 


•> 


Second best Coverlid, 


2 


Two best six sides of Upper Leather. 


5 


Second best winter Wheat, 


10 


Second " Timothy Seed, 


', 


Best Cow, 


1 


Second best Cow, 


5 


Best Boar, 


; 


Second best Boar, 


■ 


Best sow, 


5 


Best five Ewes, 


6 


Best Fatted Cattle, 


10 


Best Mare and Colt. 


8 


Second best piece of Flannel, 


4 


Second best Hearth Rug. 


> 


Second best Corn, 


5 


Best Timothy Seed, 


5 


Best Gelding, 


15 


Second best Gelding, 


6 


Best brood Mare, 


10 


Second do, 


6 


Second best Ram,. 


! 


Best Fiv Ewes, 


4 


Second best four Hogs, one yeat old, 


4 


Best Boar, 


', 


Best breeding Sow, 


5 


Best Working Oxer., 


10 


Best plaid Flannel, 


3 


Second best Linen, 


3 


Best Broadcloth, 


11 


Best Rug, 


"J 


r held at Harleam for the city and county 




two premiums for Fat Cattle, — together 




Best pair of Working Oxen, 


s 


Three best do do. 


;> 


Best Timothy Seed, 


5 


Best Stud Horse, 


10 


Best Hemp, 




Best brooding Mare, 


8 


Best Gelding, 


S 


Best Buck, 


:.', 


Third best Flannel, 


2 


Second beat four Ewes, 


9 


Best piece of dressed Cloth, 


8 



522 



TOWNS OF GCSHEN, 






Thomas Watters, 


Best Sow, 


3 


Joseph Wood, 


Second best four Hogs, 


2 


Jonas Seely, jr. 


Fonr best Cows, 


2 


Abraham Vail, 


Best and largest quantity of Butter! 


10 


Jonas Seely, 


Best Bull, 


6 


Harman Fink, 


Best pair of Fatted Oxen, 


10 


do do 


Second do do, 


5 


Thomas Watters, 


Best Working Oxen, 


8 


Jonas Seely, 


Best pair of Working Oxen 


2 


Henry W. Denton, 


Best Cow, 


6 


I'hineas Terry, 


Best two year old Heifers, 


4 


do do 


Third best Ram, 


1 


do do 


Second best four Ewes, 


3 


Theophiius Howell, 


Second best Heifers, 


2 


Benjamin Strong, 


Second best Boar, 


•> 


Abraham Vail, 


Third best do, 


1 


Daniel Carpenter, 


Second best Hemp, 


5 


ophiius Howell, 


Best Hemp Seed, 


5 


Joseph Wood, jr., 


Second best Cheese, 


•2 


niel Carpenter, 


Third best piece of Flannel, 


2 


Thomas Watters, 


Third best piece of Dressed Cloth, 


:: 


:ph Woo , 


it Counterpane, 


2 



Mr. Fink sold a pair of oxen to Mr. Gibbon in New York for 25 

cents per pourM. They were exhibited in the city to gratify public-curiosity 

as ;.> size and beauty of formation. The Agricultural Society employed an 

: to take the likeness oi these extr; i y animals. One of them was 

thought to be the largest and most perfect bred in the State or Union, 

- ie neat kind. His live weight was 3.084 lbs. The great Columbus ox 

tied 2,9 ore ox 2,683, The great Brighton ox of 

I i. Massachusetts, was thought to be the ever produced till 

the Fiiik ox was exhibited. The improvement in the breed of cattle at the 

attributed to the influence of ag il societies of the county 

. elsewhere. 

1821. Gen. Vail killed a hog less than two years old — weight 722 lbs. 

1823. Daniel Carpenter raised corn whi led 95 bushels to the acre. 

Abraham Vail made 2,319 lbs. of butter from 15 cows. The buttermilk 

was fed to the cows. The butter was made from May to the 10th of October. 

182.0. The dwelling house of Mr. James Horton Was consumed by tire. 

\ a old lady, after being severely burnt, jumped from a window in the sec- 

1 . and was- saf< I . ight I v some persons in the street below. 



TOWNS OF 



BLOOMINGGROVE, 
CORNWALL AND MONROE, 



Up to 1764 the district covered by these towns was a p 
of the old town of Goshen, at which time the Colonial As- 
sembly passed an act to divide Goshen into two precincts. 
and the old town of Cornwall was erected ; since it 

has been divided into these three towns. 

In physical outline and natural condition, this district is 
much more diversified in appearance than any we have pre- 
viously considered. At the west in Bloominggrove, they 
have the smooth and undulating- lands fonnd in other towns, 
but as it runs east and approximates the Hudson, and south- 
erly towards the line of Rockland,' it terminates in a moun- 
tain range, broken up and variegated in general aspect, by 
bold, craggy and elevated peaks. The whole area is trian- 
gular in shape, with one angle resting on the line of New 
Jersey, the eastern side of which extending from the Jersey 
line to near the mouth of Murderers' creek, is the broad seg- 
ment of a mountain circle, with here and there an occasional 
breach. These are the Grampian hills of Orange. While 
this elevated range is sev ianj deep glens and val- 

lies, the Alpine bights hold within their rocky crests, ponds 
and lakes of pure water, which glitter like diamonds in the 
noontide sun. Rude and forbidding, as this region of hills 
and rocks and mountain crags may at first sight appear to the 
eye of a superficial observer, yet, to the true lover of nature 
in the exhibition of her noblest works, and to the practical 
mind of the really utilitarian, for a thousand purposes, the 
whole is well arranged and unsurpassed by any thing of the 
kind in the county. Here are found without stint or meas- 
ure, granite, mica or isingglass stone, and every quality of 
iron ore, with other minerals, treasures of present and future 
wealth to the nation. As early as 1778, during the war of 
the Revolution, the great chain passed across the Hudson at 



524 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

West Point, was made from the mineral of this region. In 
this respect, as regards quality and quantity, the county of 
Orange stands unrivalled by any other in the state. 

The time will come, when ihese hills, mountains, deep 
glens and sparkling lakes, shall be the descriptive themes of 
some native bard, who like Scott, or Burns, caught up in spir- 
it and wrapped in poetic fire, will harmoniously weave them, 
one and all, into the thrilling laj s of the lowland and moun- 
tain muse. The time will com when these elevated nights 
of dreary aspect, these hills overhung and darkened with 
vines and forest trees, and. these lakes of picturesque beauty, 
unknown to the common mind, decorated with the wildest 
garniture of nature, and visited by the wing of the wild bird, 
shall be associated in the minds of our children's children, 
with ail that is pastoral, pleasing and heroic. True, Mon- 
roe cannot be made equal in agricultural beauty to other 
more«champaign localities, and wave with a golden harvest; 
for though her hills and mountains maybe denuded of their 
vegetable ornaments, they cannot be levelled down nor driv- 
en over by the ploughshare ; yet the time will come, when 
every nook and corner throughout the broad and variegated 
mass shall hold a freeman's cottage, teaming with life, and 
highland cheer, whose tenants, honest and hardy, will sleep 
amidst the thunders which rock them to rest, and the light- 
nings that play around and gleam up their mountain dwel- 
lings, 

Bloc-minggrove and Cornwall may be considered agricul- 
tural towns, while Monroe is largely devoted to manufac- 
tures. The nature of her manufactures are principally of 
the same general character, and confined chiefly to iron pro- 
ducts. The agriculture of Bloominggrove is largely inclin- 
ed to stock and beef-feeding, and may raise grain sufficient 
for heme consumption. The products of Cornwall areola 
more diversified character, embracing butter, grain, stock, 
fruit, Avith manufactures to a limited extent. It is thought, 
drat there is no locality of the county equal to Cornwall for 
the growing of all the choice varieties of fruit. That town 
we think has the honor of cultivating the fruits first in the 
county, and it is due to Mr. Noah Townsend of Bethlehem, 
who began the nursery business as early perhaps as 1790. — 
In 1805 he advertised that he could supply the public with 
fruit, trees of various kinds. This gave a sudden start, a 
strong impetus to the business, which others have happily 
unproved upon and enlarged. 

to all the various departments above referred to, the pro- 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 525 

gross towards greater and more perfect production, is steadv 
and gradual. The same forward movement in clearing up 
the face of the land, in building fences and dwellings, and in 
ditching out and draining low and unsightly places, which is 
observable elsewhere in the county, is obvious throughout 
the towns of which we speak. 

The streams of this region are not numerous, but its ponds 
and lakes for number, beauty and usefulness, are unexcelled 
in the county. Murderers' creek winds a gentle, but serpen- 
tine course through Bloominggrove and Cornwall, and falls 
into the Hudson in the broad bay of Newburgh, at Plum 
Point, near the beautiful and picturesque residence of Mr. 
Philip Verplank. The Ramapo, unlike any other river that 
we know of on the globe, being made-up wholly by the sur- 
plus waters of ponds and lakes, after one short turn from an 
easterly course, near Mr. Turners', in a strait southerly di- 
rection hurries down its narrow and somewhat celebrated val- 
ley to leave the county and visit New Jersey. No stream 
with its tributaries, of the size of this anywhere, furnishes a 
greater amount of safe, valuable and profitable water power. 
Without it the mineral wealth which lies imbedded along anc" 
in the vicinity of its course, would be comparatively worth- 
less, for they would not pay the expense of disinterment and 
distant transportation in a crude state. How admirable is the 
provision of nature in this instance. In the great economy 
of the world, these rocks and mountain masses were formed 
and piled rudely upon each other, and in the "modus oper- 
andi" valuable minerals were scattered deep and around 
them, hid from t!:e common eye and worthless; and along 
came the friendly Ramapo to disinter and carry them in com- 
minuted portions to a place of sa' . 

The name of this river is Indian, and means a stream form- 
ed of "round ponds." 

This district is consecrated in every American bosom b\ 
its Revolutionary associations, and contains spots of thrilling 
interest to the patriot, for there his liberties were sealed with 
the blood of his friends and kindred. Forts Clinton and 
Montgomery when assaulted in .777, and though both taken 
on the same day, were nobly defended by the militia of Or- 
ange. There many true hearts bit the dust, or were after" 
wards starved to death as prisoners by the three infamous 
English commissioners in the city of New York. There also, 
is West Point, with Fort Putnam, hoary and desolate in the 
back ground, which, while they recall many Revolutionary 
incidents, are being rendered more and more dear from year 



526 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

to year, by the recent battles of Scott and Taylor on the 
plains of Mexico. 

EXTRACTS FROM CORNWALL RECORDS. 

These records go no further back than 1765, earlier than 
some, but not so early as others. We copy the proceedings 
of the first town meeting : 

At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the precinct of Corn- 
wall, in the county of Orange, on the first Tuesday in April, 1765, at the 
house of John Brewster in Bloominggrove, pursuant to an act of the Lieu- 
tenant Governor, Council and General Assembly of the Province of New 
York for that purpose. 

Present — Selah Strong; Wathaniel Jayne, David Smith and Amos Mills, 
Esqs., Justices of the Peace 

Voted John Brewster, Sen. Clerk ; Hezekiah Howell, sen.. Supervisor; 

John Brewster, David Smith and Zachariah Dubois, Com. of Highways . 

Jeremiah Coleman, Assessor; John Hudson, Collector : 

Elihu Marvin and Samuel Moffatt, Overseers of the Poor : 

John Hr.iison, Constable for Bloominggrove; 
^Hophni Smith, do Smith's Clove; : 

J. Sackett, do for the water side. 

John Wooiiey, Overseer of the road from the New Meeting House r. 
Martin Remilies. 

Buzaleel Seely, for Oxford, from Israel Seley"s to Gregor. 
^ Joseph Hildrige, from the new road to Goshen to 

Nathaniel Seely, from James Sear's to Saterlie's mill. ' 
^ Hezekiah Howell, for Blag's Clove. 

Steven Gilbert, for Goshen road, from the precinct line to the Ottei 

Josiah Reeder, from the Otterkill to Coli Matthews'. 

Joseph Chandler, from Coll Matthews' to county line. 

Francis Drake, from Henry Mapes' to Thomas Mapes.' 

James Halsled, from Teed's Bridge on New Road to Sterling. 

Benjamin Strong, from the Meeting house to Adam Collins 7 and to the 

iiool house. 
^Thomas Smith, from John Erles' to Cave's. 

Joel Tulhill, from Curtis Coleman's to Nathaniel Curtis' rnili. 
along to the Round Hill. t ' 
' Richard Goldsmith, frqjen John Brewsters' to Gilberts'. 

Silas Youngs, i.rom,.rh'e end of Oxford road to R. You; 
J Benjamin G,regojf , from his house to Oxford. 
( David Sherod and Timothy Brewster, Overseers for the water 
^ David Smith, from Gregory's to John Earles'on the Clove road. 
_,!, Juli Smith, from his house to Cat's, and from his house to Dunbai 

Elihu Marvin and Archibald Little, Fence Viewers for Oxford. 

Austin Smith and John Earles for Woodberry Clove. 

Joseph Wood and Jeremiah Clark for New Cornwa;. 

John Brewster and David Coleman for Bloominggrove. 

'a this time the town was very krge, embracing, the pre- 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 



527 



sent towns of Cornwall, Bloominggrove and Monroe, with a 
part of Chester. The road districts were numerous for that 
early period, but are accounted for by the extent of territory. 
In 1760 the Assembly of the Province passed an act author- 
izing the laying out, altering, etc. of public roads ; and by 
virtue of this act, the towns on their first organization went 
to work, like men of previous bad morals, to mend their 
ways. The first entry after the election of officers, on this 
record is that of altering and laying out several roads by 
John Brewster, David Smith and Zachariah Dubois, Com- 
missioners of roads. As the records contain the names of the 
commissioners and overseers only, we cannot tell from them 
the names of the inhabitants of the town at that time, which 
we should be pleased to preserve. We can, therefore, only 
name the individuals who held a town office of some kind. 
which we will do from 1765- to 1775, not naming the office. 
In this 1 way we get the names of the old settlers in Cornwall. 
Bloominggrove. and Monroe. 



Selah Str Josiah Reader, Nath'l Satterly, 

■ Nathaniel Jayne, Joseph Chandler, Henry Brewster, 
David Smith, Francis Drake, Stephen Hulse, 

Amos Mills, James Halsl Jonathan White, 

Jno. Bre water ,sen. Be]ijaj]mn_5]rpi]gr' A. Cunningham) 



William Mot- 
Israel Rose, 
Silvanus White, 
Capt. F. Mathews, 
Langford Thorn. 



H. Howell, sen., Thomas Smith, 'f David Manrievill, John Bull, 



/.rial: Dubois. Joel Tutliil!, Roger Barton, 

Jeremiah Coleman. Rich'd Goldsmith, Lemuel Sheldon, 
John liu! Silas- Young David June, 

Benj. Gregory, jr. Francis Smith, 
David Sherod, " Gar ierV 

Tim. Brewster, Benj. Goldsmith, 



Elihu Marvin. 
Samuel Moffat, 
Hi lith, 

ett, 
John Woolly, 

v Bazaliel S 

» Joseph Hilarige, 
rie! Sely, 
Hez. Hi 

Stephen Gilbert, 
Kdward Brewster 
Moses Clark, 



John Earles, 
Austin Smith, 
Archibald Little, 
Joseph Wood, 
Reuben Clark, 
Daniel Coleman, 

ayr, 
Elijah Carpenter, 



John Coleman, 
Thomas Shaw, 
Thos. Goldsmith, 
John Brewster, 
Joseph Wilicox, 
Isaac Coley, 
William Hudson, 
David Gage, 



Capt. Silas Piereon, 
Natt Seley, 

Naniad Cur; 
Wm. Miller. 
Jacob Compiotj. 
Michael Thomas, 
Isaac Van Duzer,j; 
Richard Williams, 
John McMan 
Philip Miller, 
Austin Smith, 
Ch. Van Duzer. 
E. Galloway, 
Nathaniel Sands 



Jam.es Matthews. ^Daniel Jayne,. 



D. Sutherland, jr., Patrick McDaniel, Jonathan Miller, 
John Wag Joseph Hildreth, Ehen, Woodhull, 

Matthias Gilbert, Israel Seley, 

James Gray.. Samuel Strong, 

Francis Smith, James Keeler, 

James McCleane, Eben. Stephens, 

Thomas Coleman, William Thorn, 

Capt. J Woodhull, Dennis Kelly, jr. 

Alex. Gallaway, A. Cunningham,* Stephen Moore, 
Frederick Tobias, Tho. Everson, John W. Tu thill, Josiah Seley, 
Samuel Mapes, Samuel Knights, Bazaliel Seley, jr. Phineas Herd, 



Samuel Knight, 
Jacob G: 

than 'j'uttle, 
Ed. Tomk'ms. 
Jeremiah Clark, 
Nath'l Chandler, 
Samuel Brinson, 



Wm. Ayrs, 
James Smith, 
Wm. Fitzjare. 
Wm. Ketch, 
Wm. Roe, 

; R. Goldsmith, jr. 

--Silvanus Halsey,. 
Stephen Howell.* 



52S 



TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVK, 



John Satterly, 

b Kunc, 
Thos. Linch, 
Henry Weasner, 



John Smith, Patrick O'Duddle, Benj. Goldsmith, 

Henry Dyer, Garret Duryea, Henry Attwood, 

Sutherland Hulet, Hugh Greg; Obadiah Smith, 

Thos. Coleman, jr. Caleb Coleman, Thomas Helms, 



VOliver Devenport, Amos Mills, 
Ann H. Hay, Esq., Stephen Wood, 
Benjamin Paindle, Samuel Earl, 
George Duryea, Wra. Ayrs, 
Reuben Youngs, Isaac Cooley, 
Coleman Curtis, Tho. Chatfield, 
Jacob's Galloway, Julias Smith, 
John Miller, jr., Matthew Ayres, 
L. Dobbin, Brier Palmer, 

Daniel Wood, Chas. McKinney, 
Isaac Howell, John Aries, 

Hons Smith, Z. Burchard, 

Samuel Slaughter, Isaiah Howe!, 
Thomas Hurley, Henry Halle, 
*«* Isaac Garrison, Sylvanus Hally, 

Arthur Ycomans, Henry Wisner,jr., Joshua Corey, 
Jonathan Brooks, Daniel Chambers, Stephen Sleet, 
Nathan Coley, Noah Carpenter, Vincent Helmes, 
James Jordan, Smith Clark, Sander Galloway 

Philip Roblin, Israei Oemon, P. McGlocklin, 

John Price, C. Van Duzer, Zopher Teed, 



John Griffith, Esq. Justus Hulse, 
Joseph Smith, John W. Clark, 
Elijah Green, Capt. Austin Smith, 

Wm. Howard, William Hunter, 
Samuel Rockwel, Paul Howell, 
Seth Marven, John Beltcher, 
David Sutherland, Joseph Chandler, 
Wm. Herd, Abner Thorp, 

Nathan Marvin, Sarn'l Ketcham, jr., 



Samuel Tuthill, 
Zeph. Howell, 
D. Lankester, 
Elemuel Sheden, 
Stephen Peet, 
Ebenezer Bull, 



Isaac Brown, 
James Wilkins. 
Samuel Moflatt. 
Samuel Smith, 
Robert Armstrong, 
John Smith, 
A. Townsend. 
Capt. J. Tuthill, 
'is Donovan, 
A. Sutherland, 
John Lomarex, 
John WooJey. 



The Justices of the Peace during this period of 10 years, 
b — Selah Strong," NathanieL Jayne, David Smith, Amos 
Mills, Archibald Little, William Thorn, Henry Wisner, Sil- 
vanus White, John Griffith. 

in 1777 the Precinct meet -"s'were conducted under the 
d.rection of four committee men, in place of the justices. In 
that year the committee were— Elihu Marvin, Thomas Mof- 
fat, Daniel Coleman and Samuel Strong. 

Thus far it does n<U appear that the Precinct had adopted 
a set of laws for its government, such as we rind in other Pre- 
cincts. Though the Precinct appointed overseers o( the poor, 
yet the records do not show that any poor money was raised 
for their support during these ten years. The Precinct brand 
in 1774 was the letter C. In 1785, £60 was raised for sup 
port of the poor. In 1787, £25. In 1788, .£30. In 17S9, £30. 
It does not appear how the poor were supported, or that the 
poor masters ever accounted to the Precinct or its officers, for 
the expenditure of -the money. 

In 1791 the wolf bounty was £10. In 1793, £8. In 1794,.£5. 

1793 began to adopt regulations to govern the town, and 
i.uiong them, that a pound be buiit near John Brewster's, 
Bloominggrove, one ne;.r John Barton's, Murderers 5 creek, 
one at John Waggon's, Smith's Clove, and a pair of ste 
at each pound. This was a rigid beginning. The fcocea to 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 529 

be built tour feet four inches high, thick and strong. In 
1797, every ram found running at large was to be sold for 
the use of the poor. 

In 1769 Selah Strong, William Thorn, Henry Wisner, jr. 

I and Silvanus White, four of His Majesty's Justices, declared 

the indenture of the apprentice, James Simmons, void, by the 

ill-treatment of his master, JohnTuthill, and discharged the 

apprentice. 

1788, Capt. Tuthill and Richard Goldsmith appointed a 
i ommittee to go to Capt. Sloat's to consult with a county 
committee. (This we suppose was in relation to the erection 
of the new county of Orange.) 

The records appear to have been very regularly kept from 
, the beginning, but principally confined to the election ot 
town officers, districting roads, recording them and appoint- 
ing overseers. There is very little variety and less legislation 
found on them. During the first ten years of organization, 
i the inhabitants must have been a law to themselves, for the 
, records furnish no evidence that they were governed by a 
] town law. We know of no better compliment to pay to 
I these early settlers, than the statement of this fact. They 
must have been an orderly and moral people. The records 
j show them to have been a sensible one, and disposed to irn- 
i prove the surface of the land by roads and bridges, &c. and 
• make it as pleasant to the residents as inviting to emigrants. 
As far as we know, they have not forfeited any of these ear 
ly traits of character. 

Names of Places mentioned previous to 1790. — Water-side, 
Bloominggrove, Smith's Clove, New Meetmg House, Oxford, 
Nathaniel Satterly's Mill, Blagg's Clove, Otterkill, TeedV 
Bridge, Sterlin, Round Hill, Woodberry Clove, New Corn- 
wall, Yelverton's Mill, Bloominggrove Meeting I f ouse, Ter- 
nity Bridge, Munger's House, Limerock, Butter Hill, (1767^1 
Furnace Road, Lawyer Smith's Mill, Sterling Iron works- 
Night's Mills, Long Pond, Carpenter's Mills, Murderer** 
Creek, Natural Bridge, John McAdus' Cabbin, Popek 
i Kill, the Furnace, Samuel Sheldon's Saw Mill, the Fufnacc 
at the mouth of Capt. Bull's lane, Earl's Burying Place, For- 
est of Dean, Palmer's Bridge, Old Warwick -Road, Cole- 
man's Bridge, Stony Brook, Stephen "Hulse's Bridge, 
Indian Fields in Smith's/ Clove, 'Crdmline's Creek. 
Absalom Townson's Mill, Stony Brook Bridge, West Point, 
Bethlehem, Paul Howell's Grisl Mill, Chester, Mountain 
Road, worked by the army, Jordan's Bridge, Ketchamv 
Mills. SrHahtownon the mountain, Stone Spring near For- 

'-•II 






TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVi.. 



est of Dean, on the road to Fort Montgomery, Laugford 
Thorn's Bridge, Sugarioaf,Troutbrook, Bull's Pond, on a hill, 
Elias Ring's Mill, Greycort, Bear Hill, Torn Mountain. 
Queensburgh Furnace, Peartree Grove, Canterbury, Thorn's 
Tan Vat, Thorn's Saw Mill,' Green Pond, Queensburgb's 
Mineholc District, S'flgarloaf "Valley, Poverty Hollow. 



A List of Persons who, in 1775, signed the Association 
Cornwall, embracing Cornwall, Bloominggrove and Monroe. 



m 



John Brewster, jr„ 

S. Benjamin, jr. 
aes Tuthill. 
Benjamin Lester, 
Brewster Helme, 
Joab Coleman, v 
Smith Clark, 
Thomas Clark, 
Win. Brown, 
ksahel Coleman, 
Phir.eas Helme 

s Youngs, jr. 
. ohn Smith, 

is Youngs, 
Samuel Rocket, 
Reuben Youngs, 
Micah Coleman, 
Ephraim Clark, 
Voungs.jr., 
Benj. Mapes, 
Bethuel Mapes, 
lac Cooley. 
shorn Clark, 
Callay, 
P. Cashaday, 
Timothy Little, 

ones Little. 
Thos Sullivan, 
owell, 
■ph Wilcox, 
Timothy Smith .jr 
Thaddeus Seely, 
pge Baitman, 
Rich'd Hone nan. 
Jno. Stephens, 
Birdseye Young, 
arpenter.ljr., 
A. Ho well, 'jr., 
V\;lliam Kii 
Isaac Bower, 
'• izaliel Seelj . 
son, 



Benj. Gregory, 

■Tosiah Seely. 

Nehemiah Clark, 

Win. Nicholson. 

John MoCarty, 

John Seely, 

Silvanus White, 

John Wood, 

James Peters. 
Daniel Coleman, 

Thomas Moffatt, 

.lames Matthews. 

John Brews; 
Samuel Smith. 
Wm, Roe, 
Chris. Vanduzer, 
David Mandevil), 
I. Vanduzer, jr., 
Joseph Smith, 
Vincent Mathews, 
John McWhorter; 
Rdger Barton. 
Samuel Ketcbanv 
Josiah PelJ, 
John Pell, jr , 
Obadiah Thorn, 
E. You mans. 
S. Voumans, 
S. Sheldon. 
A. Ketch 

. Samuel Map 
John Marvin, 
Thos. Clark, jr;, 
Justus Stephens. 
David Stephens, 
Samuel Hall, 
James Smith, 
Henry Dier, sen., 
Joseph Reeder, 
John Reeder. 
William Reeder, 
; !er,ji 



Jonathan Hallock, 
John Pecham, 
John Burges, 
Wm. Hunter, 
Arch. Little, jr. 
Jonas Seely, 
Daniel Mapes, 
Patrick Odey, 
Smith Mapes. 
Isaiah Mapes, 
Israel Hodges, 
Sam'l Knights, 
Isaiah Howell, -^ 
Isaac Brown. 
Samuel Seelj ; 
Israel Seely,- 
James Sayre, 
Nathaniel Seely, 
Nathan Marvin, 
Isaac Cooley, jr : . 
Samuel Gibson. 
Jesse Marvin 
Jesse Seely, 
Solomon Little, 
Jeremiah Clark 
Ji so Woodhull, 

eph Woo,], 
Nathan Brew 

ladiah Smith, 
Archibald Little, 
Jonathan Brooks, 
Nath'l Satterby, 
Stephen Gilbert, 
Elihu Marvin, 
Seth Marvin-, 
Jos. Lamoun 
Hcnry'Brewster, 
! homas Horton, 
Stephen 1 lilsey . 
James Halsey, 
Harris Bartlett, 
, Reuben Tabei, 



Elihu Marvin, jr., 
Hez. Howell, jr.. 
P. McLaughlin, 
Daniel Devan. 
Abraham Loce, 
S. Ketcham. jr.. 
Benj. Ketcham, jr. 
Benj. Ketcham, 
John Manes, 
Joseph Morrell, 
Joseph Ketcham. 
Defy id Biggs, 
Timothy Brewster. 
Nathaniel Seely, jr. 
Jesse Teed, 
Benjamin Budd, 
Tames David-. 
Benjamin Craft, 
Nath'l Sayre, jr. 
David Clark, 
Richard Drake, 
A. Townsend. 
Silas- Benjamin. 
Barnabas Many. 
James Hall. 
Silas Hall. 
Luther Stuart, 
James Sayre, jr , 
John Sayre. 
Aaron Howell, 
John W. Clark 
Paul Howell, 
Silas Howell, 
John Carpenter 
Benj. Carpenter 
Tim. Carpenter 
!,: Furguson, 
Jno. Dubois, 
n is Wood, 
Daniel Harrisi 
Thomas Poicy; 
Williams, 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 



531 



Sam'l Moffatt,jr., 
Robert Greag, 
Thaddeus Coley, 
Hugh Mury, 
Samuel Bartlett; 
W. McLaughlin, 
Dennis Colley, 
Wm.Owen, 
Naniad Custis, 
Silvanus Sayles, 
Silas Coleman, 
Elijah Green, 
Matthew Sweeny, 
Hugh Gre 
(on. Tuthill, 
Isaac Brewster, 
"rancis Tuthill, 
Francis Drake, 
Eben. Woodhul!^ 
C. Van Duzer, 
Zachariah Dubois, 
Nathaniel Strong, 
Vzariah Martin, 
Francis Brewster, 
OafTTeTTTiTTTTri, 
Abrarr. Butler, 
John McClean, 
Maurce Heaven, 
Zacl:ary Burwell, 
Joshua Burwell, 
Austin Smith, 
Joseph Chandler. 
John Morfatt, 
Michael Kelly, 
Jacob JFhite, 
William Gregg. 
John Leonard, 
Joshua Philby, 
Siivaaus Bishop, 
lonnovan, 
Benjamin Corey. 
; Smith, 

ii Close, 

derick Tobias, 
John Faren, 
John Pride, 
Gilbert Weeks, 
!. V&ndoseri, 3d, 
■h Collings, 
Thos. Colling-, 
Nathan Birchard, 
Zobulon Birchard, 
facob Vanduzer, 

e McGufiack 



Josiah Reeder, 
Eleazer Taylor, 
Peter Reeder, 
Stephen Reeder, 
Jacob Reeder, 
Silas Pierson, 
Silas Pierson, jr., 
Rich'd Coleman, 
Benoni Brock, 
Justice Hulse, 
Stephen Hulse, 
Wn>. Bradley, 
Nathan Pease, 
Charles Howell, 
E. Tailor. 
Wm, Cook. 



Joshua Landstar, 
Jacob Brown, 
Sol. Cornwall, 
Isaac Lamoreaux, 
John Lamoreaux, 
John Earll, 
Peter Earll, 
Samuel Reader, 
Abram Cooley, 
Sicah Tucker, 
George Everson, 
Thomas Everson, 
John W. Tuthill, 
Joseph Davis, 
Nathaniel Jayne, 
Stephen Jayne, 



Thomas Chatneld* Daniel Jayne, »_ 
James Wilkins, Joseph Hildreth, 



Stephen Sayles, 
Wm. Moffett. 
Isaac Moffett,/- 
John Moflett, 
Daniel Smith, 
Francis Nantine, 
David Jones, 
Alex. Sutton, 
Thos. Livingston, 
John Brooks, 
Samuel S'milh, 
Thomas Smith, 
lesse Brewster, 
John Lightbody, 



Philip Miller, 
Reuben Tucker, 
Adam Miller, 
John Carpenter, 
Elijah Carpenter, 
Wm. Carpenter, 
David Wilson, 
Peter Lawrie, 
Elisha Smith, 
Isaac Tobias 
David BloomrislJ, 
Gilbert Roberts, 
Joseph Halstead, 
/Silvanus Halsey, 



Gabriel Lightbody, Selah Satterlee, 
Isaac Lightbody, Joel Tuthill, 



And. Lightbody, 
James Moore, 
Benj. Thorn, 
John Parker, 
Daniel Thor'i, 
Robert Haight, 
Timothy Wood, 
Hez. Howell, 
Sam'l. Mol 
Thomas Hulse, 



AaronfDe Grauw, 
Abm. Snider, 
John Johnson, 
Nathaniel Bigs, l 
Adam Belsher, 
Arch. Conckam.jr- 
James Huff, 
Stephen Hulse, 
George Whitacre, 
Daniel Curtis, 



Rd. Collingwood, Eleazer Lose, 

Henry Mapes, P. Lamoereux, jr. 

Nathan Strong, Solomon Servis, 

1 njamin Tuthill, James Leedis, 

Timothy Corwin, Joseph Van-note, 

lenry Brewster, Richard Earll, 

i'eter Lamoureux, Wm. Conklin, 

Luke Lamoureux, John Tuthill, 

Henry Atvvood, Silas Corwin, 

, Isaac Vanduzer, Thomas Willctt, 



Daniel Miller, 
Thomas Huley, 
Togidah Dickins, 
Joseph Gold, 
Zaccheus Horton, 
Samuel Howard, 
William Howard, 
Henry Dafinport, 
Israel Osman, 
Ezekiel Osman, 
Francis Bourk, 
Jonas Garrison. 
Samuel Robbins, 
William Bedell, 
John Daynes, 
Henry Hall, 
Thomas Smit- 
Aaion Miller, 
William Cooper, 
John Miller, 
Samuel Law? 
Jacob Laws, . 
A. Cunningham. 
Jacob Comton, jr.. 
Jacob Comton, 
Thomas Cooper. 
James Galloway, v 
Tobias Wagent. 
Wm. Clark, 
Abner Thorp, 
James Law^-. 
John Brook, 
John Bran, 
Wm. Owens, 
John McKilvey 
John Wagent. 
Wm. Comten, 
Timothy Oens, 
Neal Anderson. 
Robert Brock, 
Wm.. Bartlett, 
James Mitchell. 
James Stought, 
James Overton, 
Benjamin Jayne, 
John Carpenter. 
Moses Strain. 
Joseph Petterson 
Jas. McClaugh^n, , 
Caleb Ashley, 
Thomas Greg;. 
Wm. Hooge, 
Jacob Devo, 
And rev, S 






TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 



Thomas Linch, 
Samuel Strong, 
Wm. Aynes, 
Geo. Galoway, 
Henry Dier, 
Benj. Goldsmith, 
Philip Robben, 
Isaac Horton, 
.lames Miller, 



Thomas Oliver, 
Owen Noblen, 
John Smith, 
John Car, 
Edward Robbin, 
David Stage. 
—Garret Miller, 
Garret Willem, jr. 
John Waggon, 



David Causter, 
Hugh McDonel, 
William Horton, 
Joshua Miller, 
James Wilks, 
James Wilks, jr. 
Richard Wilks, 
Benjamin Miller, 
Joseph Miller, 



Asa Biu - 
Wm. Bell. 
Zophar He;. 
John Hall, 
Wm. Tomsoi 
Robert Miller. 
Benj. Callay, 
John Johnson. 
Joseph Stevens. 



Signers in Orange in 1775, some of wkorn resided, probably, in tke then 

Town of Cornwall. 



> Thomas Smith, 
John Joe, 
Matthias Tyson, 
Silas Reynolds, 

»bn Arkills, 
Vincent Helme, 
John Woolly. 
John Earle, jr., 
James Arnold, 
I'eter Stephens, 
Daniel Standly, 
Daniel Adams, 
Wm. Obadge, 
James Unels, 
Patrick Ford, 
John Boucke, 
Amos Miller, 
Wm. Miller, 
Amos Mills, 
John Barton, 
Silas Mills, jr. 
Charles Field, 



David Miller, 
Peter Reynolds, 
Thomas Powel, 
Benj. Pringle, 
Zahud June, 
H. Cunningham, 
Daniel Prindle, 
Enos Prindle, 
Francis Smith, 
Thomas Dearin, 
Henry Reynolds, 
David June, 
Oliver Devenport, 
Jeremiah Fowler, 
Richard Sheldon, 
Chester Adams, 
Martin Clark, 
John Cilley, 
Joseph Canfield, 
John Canfield, 
L. Canfield, 
Richard Langdon, 



Henry Mandeville, Stephen Peet, 
Jonas Smith, John Cronckhite, 

Jacob Mandeville, And. Sherwood, 
l ; . Mandeville, Wm. Sherwood, 
Samuel Whitmore, 



John Florence, 
Francis Miller, 
Thomas Gilbert, 
Jonathan Earl!, 
John Haman, 
Alex. Johnson, 
Samuel Earll, 
Gideon Florence, 
Alex. Galoway, 
Samuel Raymond/ 
Uriah Wood, 
John Wood, 3d, 
Amos Wood, 
Thomas Parter, 
James Sutherland, 
D. Sutherland, 3d, 
Alex. Sutherland, 
John Sutherland. 
David Sutherland, 
George Everitt, 
Nathan June, 
Thos. Lamareux, 
Micha Seaman, 
Fanton Horn, 
Francis Plumsted. 
A. Sutherlan 



Benj. Wood, 
Daniel Wood. 
Joseph Cupper, 
Jos. Canfield, jr. , 
Francis Wilton, 
Jno. J. Hammond, 
Sol. Siles, 
Wm. Duglas, 
P. McDonnell. 
E. Barton, -*" 
B. Quackenbosb, 
Wm. White, 
Jas. Schofield, 
Jacob Vanduzer, 
John Wood, 
Stephen Wood. 
Amos Pains, 
Uriah Crawford. 
John Samson, 
Joseph Plumfield. 
James Tuttle, 
Thos. Davenport, 
Oliver Davenport, 
Robert Davenport, 
Cornwall Sands. 
Stephen C. Clark. 



10 ARLY SETT LEMENT . 



Monroe. — We have intentionally varied the order or our 
paper for the purpose of placing before the reader the name* 
of the early settlers of these towns, that it might more abun- 
dantly appear that we were correct in saying that the southern 
portion of the county was settled principally by English fami- 
lies, who, at an early period came to the Eastern States, and 
from there emigrated to Long Island, and from there to Or- 
ange. Some however may have conic more directly and 
settled within these towns. 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 533 

The oldest patent within this district is Cheescocks, grant- 
ed as early as 1702, and certain parts of it along the valley 
of the Ramapo were settled as early as 1742. We are not in- 
formed at what time in particular, or by whom the first set- 
tlement was made. An old family by the name of Smith, TV**" 
made an early and extensive settlement, and Monroe was 
first called Smith's Clove, after the name of the family. The 
settler was from Long Island, of English origin, and the an- 
cestor of the celebrated Claudius Smith, of infamous memo- 
ry. This individual will be more particularly mentioned. — 
Smith, the father of Claudius, settled 200 acres. This Clove 
extends from the Highland Mills down the valley of the 
Ramapo. The word clove is of Saxon origin, and comes 
from "cleopan," "to split asunder," and means "valley/' 
By the general act dividing the county into towns of 1801, 
the name was changed to Cheescocks, after the patent. In 
1802 it was changed to Smithficld, in allusion to its being the 
most southerly portion of the county, and in 1808 changed 
again to Monroe, in honor of James Monroe, afterwards 
President of the United States. This town is traversed b\ 
the N. Y. and Erie Rail Road, which must be of great bene- 
fit in the more easy transportation of heavy articles of man- 
ufacture. 

There were several other old families early in this vicinity, 
among whom were the Millers, Galloways, Carpenters, Bulls, 
Dobbins, Wygants, Wards, Col tons, Nobles, Cunninghams, 
Slaughters, Lamareux, and others. 

Bloominggrove. — The patent to John Van Horn, Christo- 
pher Denn, Peter Mathews, "Daniel Cromline, and others, 
m Bloominggrove, was granted in 1712, and contained 1000 
acres. Washingtonville stands on this tract, which was sold 
in 1735 to Thomas Goldsmith for ,£200. It is quite evident 
from this that this vicinity was not settled till after 1735. — 
We believe that Vincent Mathews, Esq., the ancestor of 
Messrs. John I. and Fletcher Brooks, who owned "Stone 
field," was instrumental i,n settling this and other localities. 
We find his name on the roll of attorneys in Orange count \ 
as early as 1741, and that of Fletcher Mathews in 1753. — 
The bounds. of this patent begin at the Wigwam of Marin- 
gamus, and we have been told that at a certain time when 
the owners and surveyors came to locate and run it out, the\ 
planted their Jacob Staff in the ground at the door of this In 
dian Wigwam, and that when Maringamus saw what they 
were doing, and knowing what effect the settlement of tin- 
county would have upon him and his tribe, he walked into 



534 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE 



X* 



his wigwam, gathered together what few things he wanted 
and instantly left his dear but humble dwelling, and was ne- 
ver heard of afterwards. The man who could do a deed like 
that, must have had a mind and will capable of achieving 
the most heroic deed. This vies with the self-sacrifices we 
read of in Greek and Roman story. Heroic Maringamus ! 
while we lament the stern necessity which drove thee from 
thy dwelling, we admire the nobility of thy nature, the fore- 
sight that prompted arid the courage that enabled thee to do 
the deed. 

A settlement in Bragg's Clove was made as early as 
1753, by Col. Jesse Woodhull of the Revolution. He came 
to this locality when about 18 years of age, and purchased 
about 500 acres of larid, some of which is in the possession of 
his descendents. This individual is mentioned in an article 
on the " Wood hull family." 

There was an early settlement made at Salisbury, and we 
believe by Mr. "Nathaniel Dubois, the grand father of Gen. 
Nathaniel Dubois of Newburgh. He owned 1,500 acres, 
covering the mill site at this place, which is now owned by 
Mr. Isaac K. Oakley. We believe he purchased of Vincent 
Mathews,' Esq. He died at the old stone house near Salis- 
bury, then in the precinct of Goshen, on the 12th of May, 
1763. We have seen his old Dutch Bible, in the possession 
of his said grand son, Gen. Dubois, printed in 1734, which 
weighs 14 lbs. The lids are of wood, covered with leather, 
and 3-4 of an inch thick. The corners of their upper sur- 
faces are strongly guarded with thick brass plates, 1-4 of an 
inch thick. The brass guard at each corner has a knob 
1-4 of an inch high, to protect the cover when lying down. 
The clasps are very heavy, and the whole book is in capital 
preservation, and guarded sufficiently to protect a box of 
goods carried round the globe. A person who examines this 
Bible, made 110 years since, Will conclude that there has 
been no improvement in making arid binding books since 
that time. 

The name of this town is fanciful, and adopted to express 
the pleasant, kind and fruitful nature of the soil, and which 
when compared with other well cultivated and prosperous 
towns, a judicious farmer would say, is a Bloominggrow 
still. 

In this town the early settlers were the old families of 
Strong, Brewster, Howell, Dubois, Coleman, Moffat, Seely, 
Gilbert, Woodhull, Tuthill, Goldsmith, Brooks^'Mathews, 
^ierson, Marvin, White, Chandler, Youngs, Halsey, Heard. 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 

Hudson, Little, Earl, Duryea, Wisner, Helms, and many 
others. 

Cornwall. — In this town an early settlement was made at 
Canterbury, and the tradition is that some Germans came 
and settled just south of the small stream south of the present 
village of Canterbury. There they made the first clearings 
m all that vicinity, and planted their log cabins and an or- 
chard ; but in a few years sold out, left and went probably to 
New Jersey or Albany, where there were German settle- 
ments. To these succeeded other settlers, and their lands 
passed into the possession of the Townsend family, by whom 
some of them are still held. 

Among the old settlers in Cornwall we name the Suther- 
lands, Sacketts, Sherods, Brewsters, Woods, Clarks, Smiths, 
Townsends,VanDuzers, Mandevills, Bartons, Sands, Thorns. ""• 

We may have placed some of these early settlers in the 
wrong town, as they are now-organized ; but if so, the error 
is of no moment, as they were within the limits of the old 
town of Cornwall. 

We have not space to be more particular. The name oi 
Cornwall is doubtless from "Cornwallshire, England," the 
south point of which is called Landsend. That shire is near- 
ly in the shape of a cornucopise, and from that circumstance 
derived its name. In the old British language "Cornyn,"' 
signifies a horn or promontory, of which Cornwall is the 
English corruption. The two portions of land are not dis- 
similar. They are alike in being broken and mountainous, 
and in jutting out into the water, and the name is as appro- 
priate as we should expect to find it. The original settlers 
or those who bestowed the name, probably came from Corn 
wall, England. 



TOWN OF BLOOHINGGR VE. 

Washingtonville. — This is the principal village in the 
town, pleasantly situated in an open champaign country, on 
the public road leading from Newburgh to Goshen, eleven 
miles from Newburgh and nine from Goshen. The name is 
in honor of General Washington. We have not been in- 
formed when the village had its origin, or who were its early 
patrons. The last part of the name has been previously ex- 
plained. 



536 ' TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

Salisbury. — This is a pleasant little village, situate on 
the Otterkill — or Big Creek as it is generally called in this 
town — and on the public road leading from Newburgh to 
Goshen, about eight miles from Newburgh and three from 
Washingtonville. At this place the creek furnishes a good 
water power for manufacturing purposes. The leading men 
of the place have long and favorably been known to the pub- 
lic as industrious and enterprising citizens. 

The name, doubtless, is from Salisbury, England, in the 
county of Wiltshire, situate at the junction of three rivers — 
the Avon, Nadder and Willey ; the waters of which are con- 
ducted through every street by means of small brick canals, 
which not only promote health and cleanliness, but facilitate 
many of the processes of useful industry. The cathedral is 
one of the most interesting public buildings in England. It 
is said to have as many doors as there are months, as many 
windows as there are days, and as many pillars as there are 
hours in the year. There may be a pleasant conceit in this, 
but certainly no architectural beauty. 

The word Salisbury is of Saxon origin and composed of 
Sarum and bury. We have not been able to find out the 
meaning of Sarum; bury means a place of residence, as be- 
fore remarked, and is from burg, a borough or town. 

Among the active men of the place, we name Andrew J. 
Caldwell, Isaac K. Oakley and Peter Van Alen. Mr. 
Caldwell is, and for many years has been, extensively en- 
gaged in the manufacture of leather. To skill and large ex- 
perience in conducting this business, he brings a mind culti 
vated with a varied literature, and well stored with agricultu- 
ral knowledge and its kindred subjects. Modest in temper 
and unobtrusive as a child, he pursues the silent and- even 
tenor of his way, at peace with himself and the world around 
hirri. With his aged father and brothers John, Richard and 
William, compatriots of the lamented Emmet, after the out- 
break in Ireland in 1798, he came to this country and cast 
bis lot in with the citizens of this county. Donbtless, it is 
hard and trying to the best feelings of out nature, to abandon 
the land of our birth, the playground of our boyhood, the as- 
sociations of 3^oulh and ripening manhood. Around them 
linger and cling the tenderest and strongest recollections ; 
mil to be compelled to flee from them by force of circum- 
stances which we have neither made nor can control, is akin 
.0 hopeless despair and like unto death. Alas ! how many 
have experienced this dire necessity and wept in agony, as 
hey turned and took the last look on green clad Erin, and 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 537 

mentally exclaimed, "OErin, my country! Erin, farewell!'' 
Wc offer no consolation : the wound is too deep and near 
the source of life to be touched, even by the hand of a friend ; 
and we would not enter the sacred abode of private grief, 
and open the wound which time, age and reflection may be 
slowly healing. If we could, we would stay and soften the 
iron heel of the oppressor that tramples upon down-trodden 
Ireland, and if available in Heaven's chancery, invoke its 
choicest blessings upon her domestic institutions, and the 
emerald fields of her warm hearted and patriot sons.* But 
like them, we fear we are hopelessly too feeble to resist the 
deadly fangs of oppression, which with serpentine sinuosity, 
pervade every department of life, embitter its enjoyments 
and deaden all manly efforts to better her condition. It is 

i impossible for any country in a colonial condition, however 
fruitful her resources and industrious her population, to resist 

, and flourish against a stream of bad government, impetuous 

i as a mountain torrent and heavy as the Mississippi. 

j 

" Once more, oh ! turn and touch the lyre, 
And wake that wild impassioned strain, 
1 feel the circulating fire 

Flash from my heart through every vein, 

I Yes, every swell and every word 

I Strikes on a sympathetic cord, 

And conjures up with viewless wand, 

I My early days, my native land. 

"Beloved country! when I loose 

Remembrance of thy carrols wild, 
Or hold companionship with those 

By whom thy glory is reviled— 
Then be my despicable lot 
Unloved, renownless and forgot, 
To live, to die, to pass away, 
And mix with death's neglected clay !" 

The other gentlemen are also deeply engaged in the vari- 
ous departments of manufacturing flour, paper and other ar- 
ticles of prime necessity ; are industrious and persevering 
men, and in their diversified pursuits give extensive employ- 
ment to numerous laborers and citizens of the village. The 
father of Mr. Oakley was an old and respectable resident of 
the place, and conducted business for many years in the es- 
tablishment now occupied by his son. These are the men 



* We confess a feclinpr od this subject; for by descent we drew an infant breath, and first 
saw the light o f day amidst the dew drops which sparkled in the morning breeze, as it swcp t 
nver and tanned her true but roughly chafed bosom 



538 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

which benefit the country in its essential interests. They 
live not alone for themselves, but gladly shower a portion of 
their own means broadcast around them, so that all Who will 
may receive a share. Of such the county cannot own too 
many. 

John Caldwell died at his residence at Salisbury Mills 
on Saturday morning - , October, 29, 1803. 

" To those who were unacquainted with his life, the lan- 
guage of truth might be mistaken for the coloring of pane- 
gyrick, but the memory of his virtues is engraven on the 
hearts of all who had the happiness to know him. It is to be 
regretted, that the short period of his residence in this country 
lias given so' little opportunity for the display of those exalted 
qualities which so eminently distinguished him. An outline 
of his character might be attempted here, but when expres- 
sion fails to do justice to truth, it is eloquence to be silent." 

"Gen. Vincent Mathews, long an eminent citizen of 
Western New-York, dietl at his residence in Western" New - 
York on the 23d of June, 1846, aged 80 years. He was born 
in Orange county,. June, 1766, and in 1.789 removed to New- 
town, Tioga county, (then a part of Montgomery) and com- 
menced the practice of Law in 1790, and in the same year 
chosen to the Assembly. In 1796 — fifty years ago — he was 
elected to the State Senate from the Western District, then 
embracing the whole state west of Otsego county, and in 
1809 was chosen a Member of Congress. In 1816 he re- 
moved to Bath, Steuben county, and thence in 1821 to Roch- 
ester, where he has ever since resided. He has long since 
been regarded as the Father of the Bar. of Western New- 
York, devoting himself assiduously to, his profession to the 
last, though ceasing to hold office since 1833. A meeting of 
the Rochester; Bar was held on the day of his death — Vice 
Chancellor Whittlesey presiding — and was addressed by the 
chairman, by , Hon. Ashley Sampson, E. Griffin, Esq. and 
several others in terms of profound admiration for his char- 
acter and life. Appropriate resolutions were presented and 
adopted. '" 

Zachariah* Dubois.— This gentlemanduring the Revolu- 
tion lived at Salisbury, artd owned 700 acres of land. The 
farm of the Hon. Robert Denniston is a part of it, and we be- 
lieve the old stone mansion is still standing. This family is 
of Huguenot descent, and a branch of the Duboises of Ulster, 
from whence they came to Orange at an early period. In 
1776 he received a commission of 2d Major in Col. Wood- 
hull's regiment of militia, from Gov. Clinton, and served on 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 539 

various occasions till 1780. In 1777, 6th of Oct. lie was ta- 
ken prisoner at the reduction of Fort Montgomery, and re- 
mained so for 10 months, when he was exchanged for Col. 
Moncrief. Shortly after his exchange he commanded the 
guard which, under the direction of Sheriff Nicholl of Orange, 
received Claudius Smith from the Sheriff of Dutchess, at the 
house of Mr. John Degrove in Newburgh, and conveyed 
him to Goshen. On the way there they stopped at Dubois' 
house, to get something to eat. The stairs to the cellar, led 
down from the jam of the fire place of the room, near which 
Smith, heavily ironed sat, and a black woman going down, 
on entering the door, touched his chains, and instantly in a 
ferocious manner, he ordered her not to touch or interfere in 
any manner with his property again. This shows that Smith 
was an unmitigated scoundrel, even in small things. Mr. 
Dubois kept a public house during the war, and did a good 
business at it, united with farming, while continental money 
was plenty. When it began to degenerate in value, lie being 
in the war and a prisoner for almost a year, his family made 
no use of it, and it accumulated on his hands. He was ex- 
ecutor to some of his deceased relatives' estate, and the avails 
of the inventory and other claims, were paid in to Mrs. Du- 
bois in continental money, while he was a prisoner. By the 
time he was released and able to attend to his pecuniary af- 
fairs, the money had depreciated, and the heirs refused to re 
ceive it from him. They demanded payment in hard money, 
which he could not comply with, but to satisfy them and act 
the part of more than an honest man, (for the heirs, in law, 
we think, were bound to. receive the money,) he confessed a 
judgment for the claim. Under this claim, unconcious in the 
extreme, his large estate was sold at public auction, after his 
death, with every article of his personal property. He died 
in 1783, and the judgment was revived against his executors. 
Thus was his widow with several small children 
turned out of house and home, to satisfy this demand, 
without a mouthful to eat, or a knife and fork to eat 
with, if they had it. This money, consisting of thousands 
issued by a nation, remained valueless to the family. Was 
this justice on the part of the government? We think not. 
We never heard of but two reasons for not paying it, that 
were worth a moments consideration ; that it was largely 
counterfeited, and was held by speculators who paid nothing 
for it. It was the business of government to see that it was 
not counterfeited, and if it was, to punish and prevent. These 
things the farmer, merchant and soldier could not do, and 



542 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

William S. Woodhull. — This gentleman is a descendent 
of Richard Woodhull.who appears to have first settled at Ja- 
maica, on Long Island, about the year 1648, and removed to 
Setauket, then called Cromwell Bay, in 1656. The name 
was originally written Wodhull, and pronounced Odd or Od- 
hull, and even to the present time (1847) several branches 
of the family are so called, which was owing, it is believed, 
to giving the W a Welsh pronunciation, which is equivalent 
to 00. It is said that the family from which he descended is 
very ancient, and may be traced to an individual who came 
to England from Normandy with William the Conquerer, in 
1066. 

He was born atThenford, Northamptonshire, England, on 
the 13th Sept., 1620. His zeal in the cause of English liber- 
ty during the Protectorate, is supposed to have been the-cause 
of his emigrating, as his situation in England would have 
been an unhappy one on the restoration of the monarchy. 

The name of his wife was Deborah. He died in- October 
1690, leaving issue, Richard, Nathaniel and Deborah. Na- 
thaniel died without issue, and Deborah married ' ol i'n*3 
rence of Newtown. 

Richard, the eldest son of the emigrant, was born 9th 
1649, and married Temperance, daughter of Rev. Jonai 
. Fordbam of Southampton. He died 18th Oct., 1699, leaving 
issue, Richard, Nathaniel, John, Josiah, Dorothy and Tem- 
perance. Richard, the eldest, inherited the paternal estate 
at Setauket, and Nathaniel, from whom the family in this 
county descended, settled upon lands devised to him at Mas- 
tic. He married Sarah, daughter of Richard Smith, 2d of 
Smithtown, by whom he had issue, Hannah, Temperance. 
Nathaniel, Dorothy, Sarah, Richard, Ruth, Jesse, Juliana, 
Deborah and Ebenezer. He died 9th March, 1760. Han- 
nah married Mr Strong of Blooming-grove, and her descen- 
dants are numerous. Nathaniel, born Dec. 30th, 1722, in- 
herited the paternal estate at Mastic. He was known as Gen. 
Nathaniel Woodhuli, took an active part in the early efforts 
to resist British oppression, but was violently assaulted by a 
British officer near Jamaica, L. I., and died on the 20th Sept. 
1776. Richard received a liberal education, settled and 
died at New Haven, Con. His family has become extinct. 
Ruth married Judge William Smith of Mastic. Jesse, well 
known in Orange county as Col. Jesse Woodhull, was boin 
at Mastic, Suffolk county, Long Island, on the lOth'February, 
1735. He settled at Blagg's Clove, Orange county, about 
1753. beim: about 18 years of age. Pie had about 500 acres, 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 543 

part of which is owned by Win. Woodhull, the residue by 
Wm.S. Woodhull. He married Hester, daughter of Capt. 
Lewis Dubois of Orange county, by. whom he had issue, Na- 
thaniel, Richard, Sarah, Renelihe, Hannah, Jesse and Eb- 
enezer. He died on the 4th Feb., 1795, aged about 60 years. 
His widow died 29th Nov., 1808, aged 74 years and 29 days. 
Col. Woodhull's son Nathaniel, was born 1st Nov., 1758. — 
Married Elizabeth, daughter of Leonard Nicoll of New 
Windsor, and died, leaving no issue, on the 12th April, 1799. 

Richard, second son of Col. Woodhull, married Hannah, 
daughter of Judge William Smith ; and 'Ruth Woodhull, be- 
fore mentioned, of Mastic, by whom he had issue, Jesse, 
William Smith, Nathaniel Dubois, and' Ruth Hester. His 
widow j born 4th Oct., 1764, died 6th Jan,, 1809, aged 44 
years 3 months and 12 days. 

Jesse, eldest son of Richard and Hannah Woodhull, died 
12th Oct., 1800, aged 5 years, 6 months and 12 days. Wil- 
liam Smith, the subject of remark, was born 9th Aug., 1796, 
and now resides on a part of Col. Wood-hull's estate in Blagg's 
Clove. He married Fanny H., eldest daughter of Abraham 
Schultz. Esq. late of New Windsor, on the 10th Nov,, 1825, 
by whom he has issue, Abraham Schultz, born 21st Nov., 
1826, William Henry, on the 4th Nov., 1828, Sarah Jane, on 
the 9th May, 1831, and Jesse, , the 17th July, 1833. Sarah 
Jane died June 28th, 1843. 

Nathaniel Dubois was born 30th Nov., 1797, married- Ran- 
ees Mandevill, left issue, Richard' William, Francis M. and 
Jacob. Ruth Hester was born 30th Nov., 1800, and died 
unmarried 'he 8th Oct., 1839. 

Sarah, eldest daughter of Col. Woodhull, married Col. 
John Floyd of Smithtown, Suffolk county. Renelihe married 
Nathaniel Smith of Smithtown, and Hannah, Oliver Smith 
i "t .Moriches, Jesse received an education, read medicine, 
made several voyages to- the East Indies, and died at Pine 
Grove, Amite cosmty, state of Mississippi. 

Ebenezer settled near Utica, Oneida county, New- York. 
married there, .and is supposed to be now living. 

nliana, daughter of Nathaniel Woodhull of Mastic^ mar- 
ried Hozekiah Howell of Bloominggrove, was the mother of 
the present Hezekiah Howell of Bloominggrove and Judge 
Nathaniel W.Howell of Canandaigua. Her descendents 
are numerous : Deborah married Isaac Nicoll of Hackcn 
sack, N. J. Ebenezer settled in Bloominggrove, married 
Abigail Howell, and was father to the present Fletcher 
Woodhull and several other sons and daughters. 



542 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE 



William S. Woodhull. — This gentleman is a descendent 
of Richard Woodhull.who appears to have first settled at Ja- 
maica, on Long Island, about the year 1648, and removed to 
Setauket, then called Cromwell Bay, in 1656.' The name 
was originally written Wodhull, and pronounced Ode'l or Od- 
hull, and even to the present time (1847) several branches 
of the family are so called, which was owing, it is believed, 
to giving the W a Welsh pronunciation, which is equivalent 
to 00. It is said that the family from which he descended is 
very ancient, and may be traced to an individual who came 
fo England from Normandy with William the Conquerer, in 
1066. 

He was born atThenford, Northamptonshire, England, on 
the 13th Sept., 1620. His zeal in the cause of English liber- 
ty during the Protectorate, is supposed to have been lhe<cause 
of his emigrating, as his situation in England would have 
been an unhappy one on the restoration of the monarchy. 

The name of his wife was Deborah. He died in- October 
1690, leaving issue, Richard, Nathaniel and Deborah. Na- 
thaniel died without issue, and Deborah mai ' ! 
rence of Newtown. 

Richard, the eldest son of the emigrant, was born 9th 
1649, and married Temperance, daughter of Rev. Jonai 
Fordham of Southampton. He died 18th Oct., 1699, !ea\ 
issue, Pochard, Nathaniel, John, Josiah, Dorothy and Tem- 
perance. Richard, the eldest, inherited the paternal estate 
at Setauket, and Nathaniel, from whom the family in this 
county descended, settled upon lands devised to him at Mas- 
tic. He married Sarah, daughter of Richard Smith, 2d of 
Smithtown, by whom he had issue, Hannah, Temperance. 
Nathaniel, Dorothy, Sarah, Richard, Ruth, Jesse, Juliana, 
Deborah and Ebenezer. He died 9th March, 1760. Han- 
mii married Mr Strong of Bloominggrove, and her descen- 
dents are numerous. Nathaniel, born Dec. 30th, 1722, in- 
herited the paternal estate at Mastic. He was known as Gen. 
Nathaniel- Woodhuli, took an active part in the early efforts 
to resist British oppression, but was violently assaulted by a 
British officer near Jamaica, L. I., and died on the 20th Sept. 
1776. Richard received a liberal education, settled and 
died at New Haven, Con. His family has become extinct. 
Ruth married Judge, William Smith of Mastic. Jesse, well 
known in Orange county as Col. Jesse Woodhull, was boin 
at Mastic, Suffolk county, Long Island, on the 10th February, 
1735. He settled at Blagg's Clove, Orange county, about 
1753, being about IS years of age. Pic had about 500 acres. 



CORNWALL AND MONKOE. 543 

part of which is owned by Win. Woodhull, the residue by 
Win. S. Woodhull. He married Hester, daughter of Capt. 
Lewis Dubois of Orange county, by. whom he had issue, Na- 
thaniel, Richard, Sarah, Renelihe v Hannah, Jesse and Eb- 
enezer. He died on the 4th Feb., 1795, aged about 60 years. 
His widow died 29th Nov., 1808, aged 74 years and 29 days. 
Col. Woodhull's son Nathaniel, was born 1st Nov., 1758. — 
Married Elizabeth, daughter of Leonard Nicoll of New 
Windsor, and died, leaving no issue, on the 12th April, 1799. 

Richard, second son of Col. Woodhull, married Hannah, 
daughter of Judge William Smith ; and -Ruth Woodhull, be- 
fore mentioned, of Mastic, by whom he had issue, Jesse, 
William Smith, Nathaniel Dubois, and Ruth Hester. His 
widowj born 4th Oct., 1764, died 6th Jan., 1809, aged 44 
years 3 months and 12 days. 

Jesse, eldest son of Richard and Hannah Woodhull, died 
12th Oct., 1800, aged 5 years, 6 months and 12 days. Wil- 
liam Smith, ihe subject of remark, was born 9th Aug., 1796, 
and now resides on a, part of Col. WoodnvrlFs estate in Blagg's 
Clove. He married Fanny H., eldest daughter of Abraham 
Schultz, Esq. late of. New Windsor, on the 10th Nov., 1825, 
by whom he has issue, Abraham Schultz, born 21st Nov., 
1826, William Henry, on the 4th Nov., 1828, Sarah Jane, on 
the 9th May, 1831, and Jesse, , the 17th July, 1833. Sarah 
Jane died June 28th, 1843. 

Nathaniel Dubois was born 30th Nov., 1797, married' Fran- 
ces Mandevill, left issue, Richard^William, Francis M. and 
Jacob. Ruth Hester was born 30th Nov., 1800, and died 
unmarried the 8th Oct., 1839. 

Sarah, eldest daughter of Col. Woodhull, married Col. 
Jolm Floyd of Smith town, Suffolk county. Renelihe married 
Nathaniel Smith of Smithtown, and Hannah, Oliver Smith 
of Moriches. Jesse received an education, read medicine, 
made several voyages to- the East Indies, and died at Pirn- 
Grove, Amite count)-, state of Mississippi. 

Ebenezer set! led near Utica, Oneida county, New- York. 
"Kiiried there, and is supposed to be now living. 

riliana, daughter of Nathaniel Woodhull of Mastic, mar- 
ried Hezekiah Howell of Bloominggrove, was the mother of 
the present Hezekiah Howell of Bloominggrove and Judge 
Nathaniel W T . Howell of Canandaigua. Her descendents 
are numerous : Deborah married Isaac Nicoll of Hacken 
sack, N. J. Ebenezer settled in Bloominggrove, married ' 
Abigail Howell, and was father to the present Fletcher 
Waodhnll and several other sons and daughters. 



544 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

On the maternal side they are descendents of Col. William 
Smith, whose descendents on Long Island are denominated 
the Tangier Smiths in contradistinction to Richard Smith's 
family, called Bull Smiths. He was born in England at 
Higham-Ferrers, Northamptonshire, February 2d, 1655. In 
1675 he was appointed Governor of Tangiers by Charles II., 
which place with Bombay was given to him as a marriage 
portion by the King of Portugal. But the project of erecting 
an establishment upon that coast did not succeed. Col. Smith 
therefore returned to England in 1683. He married Martha, 
daughter of Henry Tunstall, Esq. of Putney, in the county 
of Surrey, November 26, 3675. He arrived at New-York 
on the 6th of August, 1686, purchased a large tract of land 
in Brookhaven, which was erected into a manor called St, 
George's Manor. He was appointed a justice of the Supreme 
Court, by Governor Slaughter in 1691, and chief justice by 
Col. Fletcher in 1692. He took an active part in the trans- 
piring events of the colony, and died February 18, 1705. 

His surviving children were Henry, William Henry, Patt}', 
Gloriana and Charles Jeffrey. Henry was born at Tangoir. 
January 19, 1679, and died 1767, aged 88 years. 

William Henry Smith, second sonof Chief Justice Smith 
was born March 13, 1690. He settled upon a part of his fa- 
ther's purchase at Mastic on the South side of the island. — 
His first wife was a Miss Merritt of Boston, by whom he had 
a son Merritt. His second wife was Hannah Cooper, by 
whom he had issue, William, Caleb, Elizabeth, Sarah. 
Martha, Jane and Hannah. 

William Smith, eldest son of William Henry, was'born in 
1720. He was absent from his family and estate during tin: 
wholeof the Revolutionary war, and spent his time with his 
friends in Orange county. He was a Judge of the County 
Court and a member of the Provincial Congress. In 1777 
he was elected -a Senator under the State Constitution, which 
office he held till 1783. He died March 17, 1799. His first 
wife was Mary, daughter of Daniel Smith of Smithtown, by 
whom he had John (the late Senator, John Smith of Suffolk 
county) and Mary. 

His second wife was Ruth, sister of Gen. W T oodhull of Suf- 
folk, and Col. Woodhull of Orange county, by whom he had 
issue, William, Caleb, Mary, Hannah, Elizabeth and Sarah. 
Hannah married Richard Woodhull of Bloominggrove. Or- 
ange county, son of Col. Woodhull, and had issue, Jesse. 
William Smith, Nathaniel Dubois, and Ruth Hester, as be- 
fore noticed in the genealogy of the Woodhull family. 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 545 

We could place before the reader the same particular ac- 
count of other old families, such as the Townsends, Brews- 
teis, Strongs, &c, but the limits of our paper forbid it. 

Anna Brewster. — Amonsr the numerous descendents in 
Bloominggrove, of Elder Brewster, one of the Pilgrims, was 
a lady whose name, it is thought, may well be recorded in an 
historical notice of the place. Miss Anna Brewster, whose 
death occurred there in 1844, at the advanced age of seventy- 
rive years, was a dwarf, the remembrance of whose person 
and character is cherished by many a heart. The following 
account of her is taken from the obituary statement which 
appeared in the county papers shortly after her decease : 

" She was a remarkable person. With a form exceedingly diminutive, 
but of perfect symmetry and elegance — a countenance in beautiful agree- 
ment with the fine intellect within — a manner ever graceful and dignified — 
and a character in which the firmer and milder attributes of true religion 
were happily united, she was an object of very affectionate and reverential 
regard, not only in the wide circle of her relationships, and in that of her 
special friendships, but also to the whole community of which she was a 
member, and to all others who knew her. About fifty years ago, a gentle- 
man having met with her one evening in company, was so interested in her 
appearance and conversation that he published an account of her, which is 
believed to have been substantially correct, save in one particular. He spoke 
of her having accepted an invitation to become an inmate of Gen. Washing- 
ton's family. This was not the case. The invitation is understood to have 
been given, but she is said to have declined it in very handsome terms; to 
the ell'ect, that she was very grateful to his Excellency for the proffered honor, 
hut wished, in accordance with the desire of her relatives, to remain among 
them, between whom and herself there existed the tenderest mutual at f ?.ch 
ment. God, who, in his adorable sovereignty, had given her so small and 
delicate a frame, together with a mind of exquisite sensibility, was pleased to 
conduct her with corresponding gentleness through the stages of her long 
life, an 1 finally took her to himself by a process involving but little pain, 
and throughout which the exercises of her spirit were characteristic of the 
mature Christian. Her funeral took place the following day; the religious 
s srvices being performed at the church, and her remains numerously attended 
to their repose, amid those of several generations of her kindred, in one of 
the burial grounds of the family." 

ACROSTIC 

A pretty charming little creatine, 
N eat and complete in every feature, 
N ow at New Windsor may be seen, 
A II beauteous in her air and mien. 
R irth and power, wealth or fame 
R ise not to view when her we name. 
R very virtue in her shine, 
W isely nice, but not o'er fine, 
S he has a soul that's great, 'tis said, 
T hough small's the body of this maid : 

21 



546 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVi:. 



B n though the casket is but small, 

K eason proclaims the jewel's all. [October 8, 1794. 




Miss Brewster was the daughter of.Edward Brewster ; after 
whose death her mother married Samuel Strong of Bloom- 
inggrove, witlr whom she resided during, the Revolutionary 
war. She had two brothers, Daniel and John, and one sister, 
Sally, who married Mr. Sayre and went to the West. It is 
said that Gen. Washington once called to see her, but she 
declined the interview, supposing it was based on curiosity. 
She was very proud and sensitive. 

Craigville. — A small manufacturing village, romantical - 
h situated on Greycourt creek, where the public road lead- 
ing from Washingtonville to Chester crosses the creek, and 
about five miles south of JFashingtonville. Though little 
has been done in the various departments of manufacture 
since the death of the Hon. Hector Craig, the great patron of 
the place, after whom it was named, yet we are informed 
that Mr. Barret Ames, a son-in-law of Mr. C, with a lauda- 
ble zeal and patriotic motives, is deeply engaged in restoring 
the village to its former activity in manufacturing operations. 
To the name of Mr. Craig is added ville, from the Latin u vil- 
/d," a village. 

At this place during the Revolution- there was a forge and 
powder mill. The property passed into the hands of Mr. 
James Craig, the father of Hector Craig, who in about. 1790 
commenced the manufacture of paper, the first of the kind in 
the county, which was continued by his son for many years 
after his death. Mr. H. Craig, for a few years, .dressed Hemp 
by water power, without previously rotting the article ; but 
it was found on being tested, that the staple of the plant was 
injured, perhaps by being kept too long bound up; and heat- 
ed in the green state, and the process was discontinued. The 
raising of hemp went instantly down- in this county. We do 
not know that the process has ever been renewed or improv- 
ed upon. 

Satterls^s Mills. — At this place there are a flour and saw 
mill, with a small collection of houses. They are situated on 
Satterley's creek, and about six miles south af Washington- 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 547 

ville. The mills are called after the name of the owner, 
Mr. James Satterly. 

Round Hill . — This hill takes its name from its shape, which 
is conical and quite regular in outline, and is near the resi- 
dence of George W. Tuthill, Esq. 

Musquetoe Hill — In the east part of the town, and as it is 
said, derived its appropriate cognomen from being infested 
with that troublesome and Vampire insect. 

Rainei-'s Hill — Is situate in the neighborhood of Mr. Wm. 
8. Woodhull. The tradition is that shortly after the Ameri- 
can Revolution, a widow lady whose name the hill now bears, 
came and resided there with an infant daughter; the- latter 
of whom could claim kind-red with William the 4th of Eng- 
land. The family were American, and His Royal Highness 
during the war was a midshipman in the British Navy, and 
in the city of New York while held by the English. 

Peddler's Hill. — This hill is in the eastern part of the town, 
near Satterly's mills. Accordingito tradition, it had its name 
from the fact that a pedd*ler was nwrdered and robbed upon it, 
or in its immediate vicinity. If the tradition is true, and we 
do not doubt it, the. name ought to have expressed the nature 
of the deed more sig-nificantly than it does — such as Murder- 
er's or Robber's Hill. 

Maringamus. — This is the name of an Indian. The place 
is near Washingtonville, and at the early settlement of the 
town, Maringamus had a wigwam on the spot, which has 
long since been removed, and it is now occupied by a white 
man's dwelling. The locality is only of interest because a 
known starting point or station, to determine the lines of sev- 
eral patents which corner there. It is the duty of the town 
to preserve the knowledge of this spot. 

BLOOMINGGROVE CHURCH. 

The first house for publics-worship, in Bloonainggrove was 
bnl.ii in 1759, by immigrants chiefly from Suffolk county, 
Long Island, who were descendents of the pilgrims ; and 
who, in thesame year, organized themselves into a congie- 
gation, und&r the pastoral care of the Rev. Enos Ayres. This 
gentleman died iir 1762, and was succeeded in 17G4 by the 
Rev. Aimer Reeve, said to have been the father of Judge 
Ree<ve, .who established the law school in Litchfield, Con. 
Mr. Reeve removed, after occupying the pulpit some three 
or four years, and was followed by the Rev. Amaziah Lewis, 
as a supply; for about twelve months. Then there officiated, 



fHS TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE. 

as supplies, first the Rev. Case, one year ; next the Rev, 

Green, six months ; and then the Rev. Silas Constant, 

two years. In 1768, the Rev. Samuel Parkhurst came to 
preach as a supply, took sick and died, and was buried by 
the side of Mr. Ayres, the first pastor of the congregation. 

In June, 1786, the Rev. Benoni Bradner became the min- 
ister of the place ; in 1S02 he ceased from the labors of the 
pulpit: and, in the beginning of 1804, departed this life, in 
'lie seventy-first year of his age. His remains, as also those 
of the Rev. Messrs. Ayres and Parkhurst, rest beneath the 
present church edifice. After the retirement of Mr. Bradner, 
the Rev. Joel T. Benedict preached a few months ; and then 
in May, 1S03, the Rev. Noah Crane succeeded, and continu- 
ed as pastor until his removal in 1811. In November of this 
year the Rev. William Rafferty followed, and left in 1815. — 
He died suddenly, while on a visit here, in the summer of 
L830 ; he being at the time president of St. John's College, 
Annapolis, Maryland. He was interred in the family burial 
ground of the relatives among whom he expired. 

In 1815, the Rev. Luther Halsey, jr. began to preach in the 
/acant pulpit, and remained until 1824, when he removed to 
Princeton, New Jersey, to occupy a professorship in Nassau 
Hall. Toward the close of Mr. Halsey's ministry in tins con- 
gregation, viz: in 1823, the old meeting house, after stand- 
ing some sixty-four years, was taken down, and the present 
large and substantial building, erected. This edifice, cover- 
ing the site of the former one, stands, flanked on both sides 
by oak and walnut trees, on an eminence a little west of th< 
Blootuiriggrove and Greycourt turnpike, and about midway 
between Washingtonville and Craigville. 

In August, 1824, the Rev. James Arbuckle, (hen pasloi 
of the eighth Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, was call- 
ed to succeed Mr. Halsey : and, having accepted the invita- 
tion, entered, the first Sabbath in October of the same year, 
on a course of ministerial services, oomtinued till July 17, '47. 
The congregation purchased, in 1838, five and a half acres of 
land, in close proximity to the church ; and, on a spot com- 
manding one of the most extensive and beautiful inland pros- 
pects in the county, built, together with other requisite-struc- 
tures, a new" and commodious residence for the minister. — 
There is no incumbrance on either she church or the parson- 
age property. The congregation have neither a standing 
debt, nor a permanent fun 1 . All the expenses, whether or- 

nary or extraordinary, for the maintaiuance of public wor- 



\ 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 549 

ship, are defrayed by contributions raised exclusively among - 
the people themselves, as the occasion may require. 

The Rev. Mr Arbuckle furnished us with these facts, and 
we now record his sudden death. He died July 17, 1847. 

Departed this life at Bloominggrove on Thursday, January 29, 1804, in 
the 71st year of his age, Rev. Benoni Bradner, after a long and distressing 
illness, which he bore with Christian fortitude and the most examplary re- 



signation. 



" How nature throbbed, how beat in every vein, 
When my fond parent felt foreboding pain ! 
When Genius, Virtue seemed prepared to fly, 
Fatigued with earth, impatient for the sky ; 
Thou, dearest sire, delight of human kind, 
Of passions gentle as the vernal wind, 
Thy daily pleasure, heaven alone to please, 
Art now no more. 

Oh ! meet me in the realms of day, 
Whither thy spirit winged its joyful flight, 
To meet its God in infinite delight." 



•6" 



Died on the 24th of February, 1818, Mrs. Eunice White, consort of Syi- 
vanus White, in the 85th year of her age. 

And on the 2d of March, 1818, Mr. Sylvanus White in the 88th year of 

his age. They were the parents of the Hon. Nathan H. White, and had 
been married and lived together 64 years. 

AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 

1820. John McGalvin. Best and most Butter from four cows, $20 
Hezekiah Moffat, Best Calf, 3 
Selah Strong, Best Mare, 12 

do do Second best Geldings, 8 

Fletcher Woodhull, Best four Hogs, 10 

Joseph Moffatt, Second best Woolen Cloth, * 

Nathan H. White, . Second best Linen, 4 

Andrew J. Caldwell, Best six sides of Sole Leather, 10 

FFilliam Williamson raised a hog which weighed 602 lbs. 

1821. John McGarrow, Best and most butter from four cows, 20 
Fletcher Woodhull, Second best Bull, 10 
John J. Brooks, Second best piece of Diaper, 4 
Andrew J. Caldwell, Second best Sole Leather, 5 

do do Second best six Ewes, 3 

Moses Ely, Best Stud, 15 

Jesse C. Cleaves, Second best Stud, 8 

Joseph Moffatt, Second best piece of Woolen Cloth, 8 

1822. David Moffatt, Best Farm in the town, 10 
John McGahrow, 2,535 lbs. of Butter from 20 cows. 29 hogs 

were fed upon the butter milk — judged 

to average 200 lbs. each, 15 

Henry Seely, Second best fatted Oxen, (> 

Selah Strong, Best cow, 8 

Jonah Decker, Second best cow, 5 



550 



TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE. 



Andrew J: Caldwell, Second best five Ewes, 3 

Joseph Decker, Best four Hogs, one year old, 10 

John J. Brooks, Best Linen, 6 

Andrew J. Caldwell. Second best Sole Leather, 5 
The committee state that the linen of Mrs. J. I. Brooks was truly handsome. 

1823. Fletcher Woodhull, Best fatted Oxen, 10 

Second do 5 

Best Cow, 6 

Second best Cow, 4 

do do 4 

do four Calves, 4 

Best Stud Horse, 10 

Best breeding mare, 8 

Best four Ewes, 4 

Best piece of Flannel, 5 



Henry Seely, 
Fletcher Woodhull, 
Selah Strong, 
Fletcher Woodhull, 

do do 

Samuel Brewster, 
Hezekiah Moffat*, 
Joseph ilioffatt, 
John I. Brooks, 



T OWN OF. MONROE. 



Claudius Smith. — The inhabitants of Monroe, Cornwall, 
Blooming-grove and Goshen, and indeed all the southern part 
of the county, suffered severely during the Revolution from 
a nest of traitors, tories and a species of robbers and midnight 
plunderers, called Cowbo} r s. The make of the country fur- 
nished great facilities for such gangs of rogues to issue forth 
rind prowl abroad during the night, commit all kinds of de- 
predations, and then retreat in safety and hide themselves in 
the deep glens and inaccessable fastnesses of the mountains. 
Smith's Clove — west of the Highlands and along the valley 
of the Ramapo — nourished many infamous rascals of this de- 
scription, who were guilty of all kinds of bad deeds, from 
theft to murder. 

Among those, and foremost in daring wickedness was the 
family of Claudius Smith, himself the leader — the oldest, 
greatest and most daring villain of the gang; and who, on 
the 22d day of January, 1779, in Goshen, expiated his blood) 
crimes on the gallows. Some of his associates in criminality 
were tried and convicted at the same time, and executed 
with their leader. 

This gang of felons was numerous, as appears from the 
convictions had at the time, from the confessions of some of 
them, taken in New Jersey, after the execution ofClaudius, 
and from their written threats, which we place before the 
reader. The most notorious were Claudius Smith, his sons 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 55.1 

Richard, James and William, Edward Robliij, William Cole, 
John Mason, MathewDolson, John Ryan, Thomas Delamar, 
James Gordon, etc. The names of many others will be 
found in the papers submitted. 

The Smith family was of English origin, and came to this 
county from Long Island ; but at what time we are not in- 
formed. It must have been many years before the war ; for 
the family gave name to the Clove, and at that time the 
children of Claudius were.grown up. His father, as we sup- 
pose, came from the Island at the same time, for he lived in 
the Clove during the war. Before emigration, they lived at 
Brookhaven, Long Island, where Claudius was born. 

We have been told by Mrs. Abigail Letts, an aged lady, 
that the father of Claudius was a bad man — that Ire was cross, 
self-willed and abusive — that before his death he became 
blind, and would strike his wife with his cane when she 
came near him, and had been known to move around the 
room in pursuit of her for that purpose — that it was a com- 
mon occurrence for the neighbors to go in and quell the old 
fellow, and stop the noise in the house. He lived at Mc- 
Knight's Mills, near the residence of John McGarrow, Esq. 
That on one occasion, when Claudius was secreted in the 
mountains, pursued and watched by the scouts who were 
after him, his father, who had been up to his place of secre- 
tion to carry some provisions to the gang, while returning 
was seen by the scouts, who Iked upon him and killed his 
horse. 

We have heard it said, that Claudius was vicious from his 
youth, and that his mother, who was aware of the great ten- 
dency of his nature to the commission of crime, and knowing 
of some of his evil deeds, on one occasion said to him — 
u Claudius, you will die like a trooper's horse, with your 
shoes on." At the time of his execution, while on the scaf- 
fold or just before he was taken out of prison, he recollected 
and remarked on the prediction of his mother. Not content 
to disgrace her and her memory for being the mother of such 
a villain, by the cause and manner of his death ; but to 
prove her a liar and false prophetess, and for that purpose 
publicly expressed, he threw r off his shoes and was executed in 
his stockings. History cannot produce an act evincing more 
infernal depravity, deep and ingrain, in the hour of death 
than that. It equalled the conduct of the demon Nero, who, 
to deliver himself from the troublesome control of his mother 
Agrippina, ordered her assassination, which wnsenrried in'o 
quick execution. 



552 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE 



We have heard it said, that the thieving- propensity of Clau- 
dius was encouraged by his father. The first thing he ever 
stole was a pair of iron wedges, which had the initials of the 
owner's name stamped on them, and in order to disguise 
them and escape detection, his father assisted him to grind out 
the letters. We have also heard it stated that his mother 
gave him the like encouragement in the commission of his 
first offences. This we do not believe, after the declaration 
made by her above quoted ; indeed we want something more 
than vague tradition to persuade us, that a mother could thus 
vitiate the moral conduct of her child, and uphold him after- 
wards in his villainy. 

"Claudius Smith was leader of the gang, a man of large 
stature and powerful nerve ; of keen penetration ; a man 
upon whom nature had bestowed abilities worthy to be ex- 
erted in a better cause. He conducted his expeditions with 
such cautiousness, as scarcely ever to be suspected until in 
the very execution of them ; and if a sudden descent was 
made upon them, by some bold stroke or wily manoeuvre he 
would successfully evade his pursuers and make his escape. 
The aged people of Orange<county tell many a surprising tale 
of this noted man, some of which are doubtless true." 

Smith was a tory of the most desperate character, and his 
felonies, on every favorable opportunity, were committed as 
well on the property of the government as upon that of indi- 
viduals. The active and influential whigs of the county 
were the especial objects of his hatred and vengeance and for 
some particular cause, now not known, he threatened the 
Jives of Nathaniel Strong, Col. Jesse Wood hull, Samuel 
Strong and Cole Curtis. These gentlemen lived within four 
miles of each other. For some personal kindness afterwards 
done him by Col. Woodhull, (for not shooting him when the 
Colonel had it in his power,) he took back the threat in rela- 
tion to taking his life ; but most fatally carried it into execu- 
tion against Major Strong. Lest this threat should be ful- 
filled, Col. Woodhull did not sleep in his own house for 
months, before the threat was revoked. 

Council of Safety, July 18, 1777. 
"Ordered that Sheriff Dumont cause to be removed i'rom the jail in 
Kingston to 1he jail in Orange' County, Claudius Smith and John Brown 
charged with stealing oxen belonging to the continent." 

We believe he broke jail and escaped. 

Col. Woodhull had a favorite and elegant mare, which 
Claudius gave out he intended to steal. Knowing the despe- 
rate character of the man and his ability to accomplish what 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 553 

he purposed, Woodhull had her brought from the barn and 
put into his cellar, where she was kept for some weeks. 
Claudius, knowing the place of secretion, one evening- hid 
himself in a barrack near the house, and watching- his op- 
portunity, when the family went up stairs to tea, slipped in 
and took out the mare. He had not left the yard of the 
house, before he was seen carrying off the animal in triumph, 
when a gentleman at the table sprang up, seized his gun, 
and was about to shoot, but was prevented by Woodhull say- 
ing — "If you shoot and miss him, he will kill me " — and he 
escaped. 

In the execution of their nefarious plans of blood and 
murder, Claudius, with four of his party, some of whom were 
his sons, in October, 1778,late at night, came to the house of 
Capt. Woodhull at Oxford, intending to rob the house and 
murder him ; but fortunately he was absent on duty. The 
object of their larceny was a set of silver. The door being 
fastened and not opened by Mrs. Woodhull, they broke it in. 
She, suspecting who they were, and true to her nature, eve/ 
full of quick expedients, and anticipating the intentions of the 
robbers, while they were breaking in, she hid her valuable 
articles of silver, etc. in the cradle, and then placed her child 
upon them. During the- time the rogues were searching the 
house, Mrs. W. made herself very busy around the cradle, 
endeavoring to quiet and still her child. The artifice suc- 
ceeded to admiration, and they left without much spoils. — 
This child was Miss Fanny Woodhull, afterwards the wife of 
Samuel Marvin of Oxford. At that time the child could talk, 
and she asked her mother, if they would steal her calico frock. 
On retiring, the rogues stole the horse of Luther Conklin, 
who was a relative, and staying with Woodhull, but absent, 
that night, which they found hoppled, in a meadow near the 
house. They threw the hopples away, and several years af- 
ter, when ploughing up the meadow, they were found. 

Col. McClaughry was taken prisoner at the reduction of Fort 
Montgomery in October, 1777 ; and while he remained so in 
New York, was deprived of many of the comforts he previ- 
ously enjoyed, and he wrote home to his wife to send him 
some money. She applied to Abimal Youngs for the loan of 
some hard money ; but he declined, saying " he had none." 
Youngs was notoriously a man of means, but of a miserly 
disposition, and did not like to lend his hard money to a 
woman, whose husband was a prisoner. It was soon noised 
about that Youngs had refused to loan the money ; and un- 
der all the circumstances of the case, his conduct was uni- 



554 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

versally condemned by all who heard of it. Mrs. McClaughry 
like a true whig and a lady who loved her lor,d, sold or 
pawned her shoe buckles and other female ornaments in 
New York, raised the money and gave it to the Colonel. It 
is said, that this story came to the ears of Claudius Smith, 
who determined to punish him, and through the instrumen- 
tality of his willing gang, forcibly abstract the funds which 
he had refused to loan. 

The tradition is, thai, they attacked his house one night, 
entered it and demanded his money, which he refused to give 
up or tell where it was secreted. Knowing that he had it 
some where about the premises, they took him out and tied 
him to the well-pole, and 'then swung him up. After he had 
hung a moment they let him down, and again demanded his 
money, threatening to hang him outright if he did not tell. 
He still refused and clung to his money rather than to life. 
They hung him in this manner three times, and still he would 
not and chd not tell. They then let him go, went into the 
house and among other things,' carried off some of his Deeds, 
Bonds, Mortgages, and other valuable papers. 

When Claudius was upon the platform and just before be- 
ing swung off, Mr. Youngs made his way close to him and 
requested him to tell where his papers were, that they were of 
great use to him and worthless to any body else, &c. Claudius 
replied, "Mi'. Youngs, tliis is no lime to talk about papers; 
meet me in the next world and I will tel] you all about them." 

It is said that Maj. Nathaniel Strong was shot on the same 
night, (Oct. 6, 1778,) and by the same persons who attack- 
ed the house of Capt. Woodhull. "When they came to his 
house, about 12 o'clock at night, he was in bed, and they 
broke and entered the outer door, broke a panel out of the 
door of the inner room, from which ihere was a bed room, 
where Major Strong lodged. He being alarmed, entered the 
room armed with a pair of pistols and a gun. As soon as he 
entered the room, he was tired at through the window, but 
escaped unhurt. The assailants then called to him to de- 
liver up his arms, and he should have quarter; on which, 
setting down his gun against the wall, he approached the 
door to open it, but as he advanced, they, through the broken 
panel, shot him with two balls, and he expired without 
speaking a word. Taking two bridles and a saddle they im- 
mediately left, and retired to their old haunts." 

In the" "True Sun" of Feb. 12, 1846, a writer under the 
signature of A. B. C, professed to give a statement of the 
conduct, capture, trial and execution of Claudius Smith, has- 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 555 

ed on the statements of the Hon. William Bodle of Tomp- 
kins county, formerly of Orange. That statement, at the 
time, had a wide circulation, and obtained general credence, 
though very erroneous in many important particulars. As 
the historian of Orange we have endeavored to correct his 
facts and state them as they really were. By the by, many 
things in that statement were correspondent with fact, and 
we have availed ourselves of them in this article of our paper. 

That writer remarks, speaking of the murder of Strong : — 
"This new outrage filled the inhabitants with resentment, and 
reached the ears of the executive. Gov. Clinton on the 31st 
of October pursuant to a motion of the Assembly, issued a 
Proclamation, offering a reward of $1200 for the apprehen- 
sion of Claudius, and $600 for his sons. Richard and James 
Smith. This had the effect desired. A number of persons 
banded together, headed by one Titus, a powerful man, of 
much daring, and set out for the place of Smith's rendezvous; 
but the latter had gone to New York, and Titus and his par- 
ty followed." 

From this it is to be inferred, that Titus and the other per- 
sons were from Orange county, and that they followed Smith 
to Long Island ; whereas Titus did not live in the county, 
nor one of his captors. The true version of the capture is 
found in the letter from Mr. James Tusten, a son of Col. Tus- 
ten who was killed at the battle of Minisink, which we place 
before the reader. 

Judge Bodle, whom we personally knew, was a gentleman 
of easy faith, and too readily fell in with the popular belief 
in many things without a sufficientexamination; for that wri- 
ter, on the authority of the Judge, goes on to remark, "thai 
he had his trial before the Supreme Court sitting at Goshen, 
Orange county, on three indictments — one of which was the 
murder of Major Strong ; and on all he was found guilty. — 
He conducted himself with firmness during the trial and 
when asked if he had anything to say in his defence, he re- 
plied, "No; if God Almighty can't change your hearts I 
cannot." 

Now, we place before the reader the indictments, the judg- 
ment and death-warrants of Claudius -Smith and others, 
which show, that Smith was not; tried nor convicted for the 
murder of Strong, but for offences entirely different. We ad- 
opt the concluding remarks of A. B. C. as<correct, and truly 
descriptive of the last end of thai notorious robber and free- 
booter. 

"He was confined in the Goshen jail, manacled and chain- 



556 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

cd to a ring in the floor while the jail was closely guarded 
by parties of the inhabitants — for they were apprehensive 
that an attempt would be made to rescue him. The order 
was given to the guard to shoot Smith, if an attack upon the 
prison was likely to succeed in his liberation. At length the 
day appointed for his execution, Jan. 22, 1779, arrived, and 
crowds flocked to see the exit of the man whose name had 
long spread terror through the country. Smith, with two 
other criminals — Gordon, convicted of horse stealing, and 
De La Mar, of burglary — were led forth to the gallows. 

Claudius was dressed in a suit of rich broadcloth, with sil- 
ver buttons, and with his large form and manly air, present- 
ed really a noble appearance. While walking to the place 
of execution he was observed to gaze intently towatds the 
hills east of the town, to see (as was thought) if his comrades 
were not coming to his rescue : for he had harbored through- 
out, the idea that he should be preserved by some such in- 
terposition. None appeared, .however, and he ascended the 
gallows with a firm step. Casting his eyes about, he bowed 
to several whom he knew in the crowd. At this moment a 
man approached Claudius and desired him to tell him where 
he should find certain valuable papers which he had ab- 
stracted from his house upon a certain occasion. Claudius 
replied that that was no place to talk of such things, and 
gave him no satisfaction. To show how perfectly hardened 
this wretched man was, it is authentically stated that on the 
gallows he kicked off his shoes, with the observation that his 
mother had often told him he would die like a trooper's horse, 
with his shoes on, but that he would make her a liar. When 
the cart was drawn from under, he swung to and fro perfect- 
ly straight, determined as was supposed, to evince no feeling; 
when senseless he twitched .a little, and exhibited signs of 
life after he had hung a long time. 

Thus died a man whose abilities, if rightly directed, would 
have raised him to eminence and greatness. Notwithstand- 
ing his life of infamy, Claudius had some generous qualities, 
and it is said, that the poor m-an found in him a friend ready 
to share both his meal and his purse, and it is believed that 
much of what, he abstracted from the wealthy he bestowed 
upon the indigent. The late worthy Judge Bodle of Tomp- 
kins county, then resident in Orange, used to relate a cir- 
cumstance that occurred with himself. Upon the morning 
following the investment and capture of Fort Montgomery 
by the British, he was pursuing his way homeward from the 
neighborhood of the disaster, when he suddenly met Claudius 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 557 

Smith in the road. They knew each other. Judge B. was 
perplexed : to escape was impossible, and putting on a bold 
front he approached Claudius, who addressed him with a 
friendly good morning, calling Judge B. by name and extend- 
ing his hand. After inquiring the news from the river, Smith 
continued, "Mr. Bodle, you are weary with walking, go to 
my dwelling yonder, (directing to a place off the road,) and 
ask my wife to give you a breakfast, and tell her that I sent 
you." Judge B. thanked him, seeming to accept his offer, 
and bade him good morning, but when he was out of sight, 
he changed his course toward home, nor felt himself safe 
until he was a far way on his journey." A. B. C. 

" Capture of Claudius Smith. — After the murder of Major 
Strong of Bloominggrove, Governor Clinton issued a procla- 
mation declaring him an outlaw, and offering a reward ol 
five hundred dollars for apprehending him and delivering 
him to the jail of Orange county. Claudius hearing of this, 
immediately fled >to New York — then in possession of the 
British — but, probably, not thinking himself safe there, he 
chose a more secret place, and went on Long Island, and 
took up his lodgings with a widowetd woman near Smithtown. 
After the British look possession of Long Island, a number oi 
the inhabitants who were calledi the Whigs in those days, 
moved with their families across* the Sound or East River in- 
fo Connecticut. Amongst those*was a Major John Brush, 
who was a wealthy farmer and left his property in the care 
of tenants. In a secret manner he would occasionaly cross 
on to Long Island, to see his concerns. In one of' fhese ex- 
cursions he accidentally t'ownd that Claudius Smith was in 
the neighborhood and where he put up. He had a short 
time before seen the proclamation respecting hfiHj and iimnc 
diately concluded that he might be taken. He returned to 
Connecticut and informed an acquaintance of his— a Mr. 
Titus, who was also a Long Tslander- — a very stout and reso- 
lute man, respecting the business, and asked him if he would 
join him in the undertaking. He readily assented- They 
concluded they would require more assistance, and accord- 
ingly engaged three other men to accompany them. They 
prepared a whale boat and armed themselves with muskets 
and pistols. Taking the advantage of a dark night they 
crossed the Sound, landed at about 11 o'clock, and run their 
boat up a small bay that puts in from the Sound. They left 
one of their company in charge of the boat, while the other 
tour proceeded immediately to the house — a distance of nearly 



558 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

a mile. They saw a light and entered the door without 
knocking : the landlady was setting by the fire. Maj. Brush 
(who knew her) asked her if Claudius Smith was not in her 
house. She paused a few moments and then said, "He is in 
bed, I will go and call. him..' Brush replied, "No ;,tell me 
where he lodges?'-' " Up stairs, in the bedroom." 

He told her to hold her peace, and immediately took the 
candle, and three of them proceeded above, leaving the other 
below. They entered the room without any. noise", they 
seized him, he being asleep ; he awoke and .made violent re- 
sistance, and endeavored to get his pistols which were trader 
his pillow. They bound his arms with a coud..and led him 
to the boat, immediately crossed the Sound and landed early 
next morning. They then had him ironed a>nd put under 
guard.- Major Brush sent an express to Governor Glinton, 
then at Poughkeepsie, informing him of his capture. He 
returned in answer, that he should be brought through the 
South part of Connecticut, and so- on to Fishkill Landng, 
where he should be met by the Sheriff of Orange County, 
Colonel- Isaac Nicoll, who would-) receive him, which was 
accordingly done. He wasi)rougi)t to Goshen by the< She riff, 
accompanied by several of < the leading men of the county, 
and a part of Capt. Woodhull's troop of Light Horse. He 
was safely lodged in jail, ira.mediately ironed hand and foot, 
chained to the floor, and a strong. guard put over the jail." 

1 saw him put in jail, heard him tried, and saw him con- 
demned and executed with two> others, and am acquainted 
with all the particulars respecting him, from the time* he was 
brought to jail until his execution, which was abouiMten 01 
twelve weeks. I am well acquainted with many of h'is rob- 
beries and hor«e stealing adventures previous to the-murder 
of Major Strong. I wrote the whole he knew res-pecting him 
for Doctor Atnell many years ago;: but what, has become of 
it ! I cannot say — it is, perhaps, among his papers.. 

Yours respectfully* J. TUSTEN. 

Mr. Victor M. Watklns.-. Goshen, 6th Nw, 1833. 

At a Court of Oyer and Terminer and gener;U-gaol delivery held at the Court 
Mouse in Goshen, in and' for the county of Orange, on A/onday,the eleventh 
day of January, in the. year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and 
seventy-nine. 

Pr'csflut — The Honorable Robert Yates and the Ilonoralde i 

John Sloss Hobart, Esquires, Justices of the f Commissioners. 
Supreme Court and Elihu iWarvih, Esquire.) 

The People of the State of New Yfcrk", ) The Court gave judgment against 

Bot. ' the Prisoner to be taken from 

.-t'ryAugor- hvt'' Amy Jones, Whence to the place from whence 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 559 

she came and from thence to the place of execution, and there to be hanged 
by the neck until she is dead. 

At a Court of Oyer and Terminer and general gaol delivery held al the 
Court House in Goshen, in and for the County of Orange, on Wednesday 
the thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy-nine, • 
Present — The Honorable Robert Yates and the Honorable ) 

John Sloss Hobart, Esquires, Justices of the > Commissioners. 

Supreme Count, and Elihu Marvin, Esquire. ) ■ 

The People of the State of New York ) On indictment and verdict against 

vs. , the prisoner for a Burglary at the 

Claudius Smith. ) house of John Earle. 

The Same i On indictment and verdict against the prisoner for a 

vs. | Robbery in the dwelling house of Ebenezer Woodhull. 
The Same.. ) 

The Same ) On indictment and verdict against the prisoner for the 

VS. > Robbery of- the dwelling house of William Bell in the day 

The Same- ) i time, and for a Robbery from the still house of William Bell 

in the preseace of some of William. Bell's family. 
The Same J , Oii indictment and verdict against the prisoner for 

vs. I Felony by the stealing of two geldings of James Savage. 

MatthewDolson, ) 

The Same j On indictment* and verdict against the prisoner forFelony 

vs. [• by the stealing of two geldings of William Armstrong/ Junior. 
The Same. ) 
The Same j On indictment and verdict against the prisoner for the 

i . Robbery of Simon Fink on the Highway. 

John Ryan, ) 
The Same ) On indictment and verdict against the prisoner for 

vs. > a Burglary. 

Thomas Delamer, ) 

The Same ) On indictment and verdict against the prisoner ioi 

vs. > stealing a ''elding of James Savage and Matthew Davis 



a ^•"•■• D 



James Gordon, ) 

On motion of Mr. McKesson, on behalf of the People, the prisoners were 
set to the bar for judgment ; and it was demanded, in the usual form, of 
each of them respectively, what he could say for himself why Judgment of 
Death should not be .passed on him ascofding.to law ; and no reason being 
assigned by either of the said prisoners -in arrest of judgment, or other suf- 
ficient cause shewnvto the contrary, the Court pronounced the following 
sentence against the said prisoners — to wit:. You. and each of you, shall 
be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and there be re- 
spectively hanged by the neck until you are dead. 

Ordered, That the said Claudius Smith, Matthew Dblson, John Kyan, 
Thomas Delamer, James Gordon and Amy Augor, late Amy\ Jones, be re- 
spectively executed on Friday, the twenty-second day of January instant, 
and that the Sheriff of the County of Orange see that the execution be done 
accoidingly. (True copies from the minutes.) 

Gosh«a, January 13, 1779. John McKes^n, .Clerk: 

Th e Confession of William Cole, taken at New Barhadoes, 
March 29t/i, 1779.— William Cole saith that about the 3d 
day of April, 1777, he. accompanied by John Badccck, Wil- 



560 TOWNS OF ELOOMINGGROVE, 

Iiam Jones and John Ellison, at where he enlisted in 

Col. John Bayard's Regiment; in which he continued until 
the battle of Fort Montgomery. That at the surrender of the 
fort, and at the departure of the British troops from there, he,* 
the said William Cole and one James Badcock, being left sick 
about two miles from the fort at Moses Clement's, Esq., went 
to the house of the said James Badcock at Sterling, where 
the said James Badcock continues, (having in a short time 
thereafter delivered himself up to justice.) That from thence, 
lie, the said William Cole, went to Pompton Plains, where 
he resided about a month, without being suspected of having 
been with the enemy. That from Pompton he returned to 
the Clove, and from thence, in company with, and by the 
persuasion of, one David Badcock and one Jonathan Gage, 
he went to New York. That sometime in the latter end of 
last fall he left New York in company with Thomas Ward, 
John Everett, Jacob Ackner, James Cowen, George alias 
Thomas Harding, David Badcock, James Twaddle, Martinus 
Lawson and Peter Lawson, and a certain John Mason, who 
was the head of the gang. That he parted company with 
them in the Clove about a mile beyond Sidman's, being 
something indisposed, and remained in the house of Edward 
Roblin in the Clove, while the above mentioned persons rob- 
bed Mr. Erskine and Mrs. Sidman. That the above named 
George Harding made a present of Mrs. Erskine's gold watch 
to David Matthews, Esq. Mayor of New York ; and that Mr. 
Erskine's rifle was given by Mason to Lord Cathcart. Thar. 
the same party together with Wiat and Bania, and Richard 
and James Smith, sons of Claudius Smith, and a certain Na- 
thaniel Biggs, were the persons who took Muster Master, 
General Ward, &x., for which they received 1U0 guineas 
from Lord Cathcart, as he, the said Cole, was informed by 
them on their return from New York. That just before he was 
taken he met with John Mason, David Badcock, Thomas 
Ward and Richard Smith near the bridge commonly called 
the Dwaas, who threatened vengeance for the execution of 
Claudius Smith; from whence he conjectuies them to have 
been the persons who murdered Mr. Clarke; soon after that 
David Badcock, Richard Smith and Jonas Ward, with about, 
eleven of General Burgoyne's men, were the persons that 
fired upon Major Goetchins, sometime in last January, as he 
was informed by said persons, in New York, after the fact. 
That as he has heard from them, one Henry McManus, who 
generally has his haunts near Sterling, one William Stagg 
and one or two of Burgoyne's men, were the persons who 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 561 

robbed a certain Lightbody, towards Walkill, and that David 
Badcock and Richard Smith brought two horses robbed from 
Nathaniel Seely, in Smith's Clove, into New York, in Janu- 
ary last, which they sold to John Day, who formerly lived 
in Tine Vly. That when he robbed Mr. Ackerman he was 
accompanied by George Bull, Jacob Low, James Terwelling, 
all of whom lived formerly at Walkill. That the above rob- 
bery was the only one in which he was ever concerned, ex- 
cept that he took Hedrick Odell's gun. 

That the persons who harbor these gangs are Benjamin 
Demarest, Tunis Helme, John Herring, John Johnston, un- 
der mountain, William Conklin, Elisha Badcock, 

Elisha Badcock, jr., John Dobbs, near , Edward 

Roblins in the Clove, Peter Nail, Benjamin Kelley and 

Powles , all in the Clove, Edward Ennars and John 

Winter, in , Peter Ackner in Paskock, and Jacobus 

Peak. That there is a cave dug under ground by the sons 
of Isaac Maybee, and on the said Maybee's land, about a half 
a mile from John Herring's, and another at about a quarter 
of a mile distant from the former, dug by the same persons ; 
and a third about three miles east from the house of Joseph 
VVessels, in the Clove, and well known by Roblins in the 
Clove, each of which may contain about eight persons, where 
these robbers generally resort; and that John King, Jacob 

Ackner and John Staat, are now in the Clove at , or 

in the houses around it. That Harding, Everett, &c, as 

soon as the weather grows warm, intend to plunder Col. 

at Walkill, to burn Col. Nichols' house, the goal and some 
other houses in and near Goshen ; and to remain in the coun- 
ty for that purpose. That there is a gang of the same kind 
on the east side of Hudson's river, whose names are Mande- 

ville , Peter Wood, William Huliker, William Dan- 

forth, Aaron Williams, James Houston and others, who plun- 
dered and brought some cattle and horses from Tarrytown to 
New York, the day before the said Cole left it." 

" William Welcher's Confession. — William Welcher says 
that some time last January, Wiert Banta and others applied 
to him to go with them to take Governor Livingston, for 
whose capture a reward of 200 guineas was offered by the 
mayor of New York, which he refused. — That he never was 
concerned in any robberies, but that for which he is con- 
demned. — Mentions the same persons who harbor those 
gangs as named in Cole's confession, and besides, one Arie 
Ackerman at Paskock, where the wife of one of those rob- 
bers (John Mason) lives." 



552 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

After the execution of Claudius Smith, the gang, headed 
by his son Richard, seemed to be infuriated by the loss of 
their leader, and the imprisonment of several of their fellows 
in wickedness ; and to be revenged, in cool blood, under the 
guise of friendship, within a few months, shot down a poor 
man, but honest whig, living in the mountains. They took 
him from his house and led him off a short distance, threaten- 
ing what they would do with him ; then stripped off his outer 
garments and told him to go home. This was within sight 
of his house, and while he was returning, with his back to 
the gang, they shot him dead. This statement we had from 
an elderly gentleman of the county who was among the first 
at the scene of blood, and saw poor Clark as he laid dead, 
stretched upon a rock. The following is what was publish- 
ed about it at the time, with the copy of a paper fastened to 
('lark's coat. 

ctract from a newspaper printed April 23, 1779, in Goshen : — "We 
irom Goshen that a horrible murder was committed near the Ster 
works on the night of Saturday the 26th of March, by a party of vil- 
lains, five or six in number, the principal of whom was Richard Smith, eld- 
est surviving son of the late Claudius Smith, of infamous memory, his eld- 
est son having been shot last fall at Smith's Clove, in company with several 
other villains, by one of our scouting parties sent out in search of them. — 
These bloody miscreants it seems that night intended to murder two men 
who had shown some activity and resolution in apprehending these rolbeis 
and murderers who infested the neighborhood. 

They first went to the house of John Clark, near the Ironworks, whom 

they draged from his house and then shot him ; and observing some remains 

:e in him, one of them saying, " he is not dead enough yet," shot him 

through the arm again and left him. He lived some hours after, ami gave 

ui account, of their names and behavior. They then went to the house of 

, who hearing some noise they made in approaching, got up 

and stood on his defence, with his gun and bayonet fixed, in a corner of his 
lo£--cabin. They burst open the door, but seeing him stand with his 
ifraid to enter, and thought proper to march off. The following 
ninned to Clark's coat." 

mining to the Rebels. — You are hereby warned at your peril to 
>m hanging any more friends to government as you did Claudius 
V- ,!;. You are warned likewise to use James Smith, James Fluelling and 
William Cole well, and ea>e them of their Irons, for we are determined t 
hang six for one, for the blood of the innocent cries aloud for vengeance. — 
\ ■ noted friend Capt. Williams and Ins crew of robbers and murderers. 
v. o hive got in our power, and the blood of Claudius Smith shall be repaid. 
There are particular companies of us who beloi.-g to Col. Butler's army, In- 
dians a* well as white men, and particularly numbers from New York that 
are resolved to be avenged on you for your cruelty and murder. We are to 
remind you, that you are the beginners and aggressors, for ly your cruel 
oppressions and bloody actions, you drive us to it. This is the first, and 
we are determined to pursue it or y j't.- heads and leaders, to the last — till 
the whole of you. are murdered " 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 563 

Claudius had three sons, though not as accomplished and. 
capable, yet as desperate in wickedness as himself; James, 
Richard and William. The statements are conflicting in re- 
lation to the fate of these men. We have been told that 
Richard and James were hung, but where, when and for 
what, we could not learn, while all accounts agree that Wil- 
liam, the oldest, was shot in the mountains in the fall of 1778, 
by whig scouts sent in pursuit of the gang. 

The story of his death as we have gathered it is this : He 
was shot as before stated in Schunemunk mountain, but made 
his escape and came down from the mountain, and hid him- 
self in the barn of a Mr. Horton, who lived on what wxis call- 
ed the Island Lot. While there, a small lad, the son of Mr. 
Horton, came in, and Smith told him to go and tell his father 
to come there, he wanted to see him ; but instantly recollect- 
ing, that that would insure his capture, withdrew the request, 
left the barn, went down into a swamp and crawled into a 
hollow log, where his pursuers found him. He was then 
taken before a Justice, and while there, or on the way to 
Goshen jail, died of exhaustion, from the wound received on 
the previous day. 

Benjamin Kelly, one of this gang, was shot in the moun- 
tains by a man of the name of June. There were three or 
lour of them secreted in the mountains, and the guards were 
watching for them. Some person told June they were at a 
certain spot playing cards. June started to find them, and 
when he came in sight they were lying down, but hearing 
his approach rose up, and as they did so, June shot Kelly. 
They escaped and Kelly wandered down near a certain large 
sulphur spring, where he was found dead by Mr. John Hen- 
ley and his dog, partially covered up with leaves and brush. 
Near him, tied up in a bundle with a bark string, was the 
wedding coat of Mr. Runnels, which Kelly had stolen a short 
time before. When they went to Runnels' house the family 
was absent, and when they were inquired of who they were, 
they answered friends. The door was opened by Runnels, 
and on entering they immediately attacked him. There 
were three to one, and in the fight Runnels received a cut on 
the arm which partially disabled him during life. A fellow 
by the name of Miller was one of the three. When the 
neighbors came in, the rascals had plundered the house and 
fled ; and Runnels was found, as was supposed, in a dying 
condition. 

As connected with Claudins Smith and his ferocious band 
of freeboters and murderers, we are informed that they had 



564 TOWNS OF BLOOMING&ROVE, 

a place of rendezvous and secretion, East of Augusta Works, 
in the Southern part of the town, from the top of which the 
prospect is fine in all directions Here, if time and danger of 
pursuit and detection were not too pressing, they conveyed 
their booty ; but if they were, they had other places in which 
to hide them, as the band at times was numerous, and well 
acquainted with every part of the mountains. This place of 
retreat was on the side of the mountain, and shaped like a 
shed, some ten feet high, with the front partly built up to 
protect from winds and storms, the stones of which are still 
to be seen there. The entrance was upon a level, and a 
large flat rock came out and covered it. From the rear of 
this room, which was about one hundred feet deep, there was 
;i way of escape to the outside, by a difficult and winding 
passage and clambering up the rocks. This secret avenue 
of escape, when the rogues were followed and traced up to 
their retreat, was of great moment. 

The public roads were along the Ramapo, at the base of 
many of the high peaks of the Highlands ; and along them 
many of their thefts and robberies were committed, while the 
perpetrators instantly fled into the mountains. The tradition 
in this town is, that during the Revolution, this band of des- 
peradoes were known to have stolen at different times, among 
other things, a large number of United States' muskets and 
pewter plates from wagons in the employment of govern- 
ment, and also a silver stand, which had probably been taken 
from an officer in the English army. At the time the plates 
were taken, the gang were pursued, and one by the name of 

shot ; and as if it were the decree of heaven, his bones 

have been exposed to the cold winds and snows of winter, 
and bleached by the heat and rains of summer, from that 
day to this ; with no friendly hand to gather and hide them, 
beneath the clod of the Clove, or rude stones of the moun- 
tain. The muskets and plates were said to have been hid in 
the mountains, and the stand in a spring in the vicinity. 

The articles stolen by this band, in the course of several 
years, and secreted in various parts of the town, were of con- 
siderable value, is somewhat apparent from the following 
facts. After the death of Smith, his two sons and some 
others of the gang, it became broken up, and the remainder 
fled to Canada, where their families still remain. About 40 
years since, two or three of the sons of these refugees, came 
from Canada to this town, with written directions from their 
fathers, to search for, and find the articles above named. — 
They remained in the town several days, and searched in all 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 565 

the localities mentioned in their instructions, and found noth- 
ing but the muskets, which were in good preservation, ex- 
cept the stocks, which were eaten by the mountain mice.— - 
About twenty three years since, two men,, by the name of 
Roblin, also came from Canada into this town, with written 
instructions from their father, (who was one of the persons 
who stole the pewter plates), to search for the same articles. 
They remained several days, and diligently explored the 
mountains and other localities, but found nothing of the sto- 
len treasures, and left for Canada. The gentleman who 
gave us this relation, after the two men left, being then a 
youno- man, went, with others, and re-explored the same lo- 
calities upon the mountains, and fished in the spring, and 
after spending days in the search, finding nothing, gave it 
up. The probability is, the places where these articles hart 
been secreted, were known to some of the gang, or then- 
friends, who remained in the county, and they had previous- 
ly appropriated them to their own use. 

The villages in this town, though numerous, are small, 
having grown up principally at the points of Hydralic power, 
according- to the exigencies of the times and the wants of the 
various "manufacturing establishments. Our reference to 
these localities must be brief. 

Highland Mills— Is situated on the outlet of Hazzard s 
Pond, in the north part of the town. At the place there is a 
tannerv and flour mill, owned by Mr. Henry Townsend. It 
was formerly called Orange Post Office, but the name caus- 
ing uncertainty, by misdirection, &c. in the contents of the 
mail, the citizens at a public meeting changed it. This was 
on the motion of Mr. Isaac K. Oakly of Salisbury, then of 
this place, and expresses a locality in the vicinity of the 
Highlands, and the nature of the business transacted. 

Monroe Works.— This establishment is on the Ramapo, in 
the southern part of the town, and was erected by Messrs. J. 
Blackwell and H. W. McFarlen, in 1808. It makes hoop and 
sheet iron, nails, shovels, spades, hoes, &c. It lias two trip 
hammers and a flour mill with two run of stones. 1 he estab- 
lishment is in full operation and is vigorously prosecuted by 
its present owner, Hudson McFarlan, Esq. The works were 
named after the town. 

Saw Factory— Is two miles south of Monroe Works, on the 
outlet of Duckcedar or Truxedo Pond, and erected by Messrs. 
McCoun and Daniel and William Jackson during the war of 
1812, to manufacture nails and saw mill saws, and now in 
operation. 



56( 



TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 



Sterling Furnace. — This is on the outlet of Sterling Pond, 
and the oldest iron works in the county, having been in op- 
eration near 100 years. We believe they were established 
by a London Company, of which Lord Sterling of New Jer- 
sey was a member, and sold them the land, and hence the 
name. 

The pond is in Monroe, but the outlet soon runs into War- 
wick, and therefore it is that the furnace department is in", 
that and the anchor in the town of Warwick. There are' 
20,000 acres of land attached to this and Southfield works, 
which supply them with iron and coal. They are owned by 
the Messrs. Townsends- At the early establishment of this 
furnace the charcoal used was transported several miles on 
the backs of horses from the mountains where it was burned, 
there being no roads at the time. The furnace was first 
erected by Ward and Colton in 1751, the forge in ]752, by 
Abel Noble of Pennsylvania. The first anchor made in the 
State was manufactured here in 1753. Steel was first made 
here in 1776 by the late Peter Townsend, the grand father of 
young Peter Townsend. In 1810, his son Peter Townsend, 
made blister steel. After Fort Montgomery was taken and 
the chain which was passed across the river there, broken by 
the English ships which then ascended the river and burnt 
Kingston, the government still thinking that the river could 
be obstructed by a chain, sent Mr. Pickering, then Secretary 
of War, to consult Mr. Townsend on the subject. When 
matters were agreed upon, they left Greycoat on Sunday in 
the midst of a violent snow storm, to go to New Windsor, and 
from there to West Point, to inspect the locality and fix the 
points from which, and to which, the chain was to be extend- 
ed. The links were made of bar iron, near two inches square, 
each weighing from 140 to 150 pounds. The whole chain 
weighed 1S6 tons, and was made and delivered in six weeks. 
The fires of the furnace were not extinguished in that time. 
The iron was made of equal parts of Sterling and Long mine 
ores. The chain was made in pieces thus, ten links were 
fastened together in the usual manner at the forge, and the 
eleventh link left open at one end like an ox bow, with holes 
through the ends for a bolt to unite that link with the next 
one. These composed one load, which was taken to New 
Windsor by oxen and carts, and transported thence to the 
Point. The carts used came from Connecticut. The chain 
while being put together, was supported by a frame work of 
f imber to keep it afloat. The English never afterwards dur- 
ing the war ascended the river, and the chain was taken up 






CORNWALL AND MONROE. 567 

in the fall of 1783, being- unbroken and in good order. A 
few links were lost in the operation of removal. Some of 
them are still preserved, and may be seen at the Pomt. It 
was stretched from the north side of the Point on the west 
side, to Constitution Island on the east side of the river. Mr. 
Townsend deserved great credit for his skill and expedition 
in the fabrication of this chain. We shall have occasion to 
revert to this subject again. 

The Townsend family of this county is quite ancient. — 
William, Thomas, John, Henry, Richard and Robert, sup- 
posed to be brothers, were in the vicinity of Boston before 
1637, emigrants from England. 

The family here are the descendents of Peter Townsend, 
a son of the 4th Henry Townsend, who lived at Chester, and 
the proprietor of the celebrated Iron works and estate at 
Sterling. The family came here from Long Island, but at 
what time we are not informed. His children were Peter, 
William, Isaac, Anne and Sarah. Sarah married Dr. Davis 
of Chester. 

Capt. Solomon Townsend, a cousin of Peter Townsend, 
and who married his daughter Anne in 1783, purchased the 
mountain estate adjoining that of his father-in-law, which he 
named Augusta, and established the Iron works, anchory, 
forges, &c. at the place. He resided in New York, where 
he owned a large iron store. He established a manufactory 
of bar iron at Riverhead. Suffolk county. His operations 
were extensive, and it was said, he lost $70,000 by the Em- 
bargo of 1808. He died March 27, 1811. 

South f eld — Is on the outlet of Mount Basha, or Mombasha 
Pond, which enters the Ramapo, and one mile north of Mon- 
roe Works. This establishment was erected by Messrs. Wil- 
liam and Peter Townsend in 1805-6, to make pig iron, and 
is in operation under the direction of the same owners 

Augusta Works. — These are a mile or two south of the 
Saw factory, on the Ramapo, and were established in about 
17S3-4, by Solomon Townsend of the city of New York, to 
make bar iron and anchors. They are not now in operation, 
as they belong to Peter Lorilard of the city of New York, 
who is too overgrown with wealth to put them in active and 
profitable motion. There is said to be 13,000 acres of land, 
principally covered with wood, attached to these works. — 
The Hydraulic power is second only to Patterson, N. J., and 
is thought to be equal to that at Walden, in this county. At 
this point the Ramapo has received all her tributaries in this 
county, and there is a perpendicular foil of 20 feet, while 



568 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE. 

within half a mile below, there is a continuous descent of 
75 feet more. 

Greenwood Furnace. — This is in the central part of the 
town, on the outlet of Slaughter's Pond, near the Ramapo. 
It was originally called Orange Furnace, and established in 
1811-12 by the Messrs. Cunningham, to make pig iron. It 
is now owned by Mr. R. P. Parrot, and in operation. The 
name was from the deep rich verdure of the surrounding 
forests. 

Queensborough Furnace. — This is in the north east angle of 
the town, at the junction of Queensborough and Forest of 
Dean Creeks, two and a half miles south west from Fort 
Montgomery. It was erected to make pig iron, but has not 
been in operation for forty years. Mr. Gridley of Newburgh, 
superintended the works for some years. The name was 
from the patent on which it stood. 

Forest of Dean Furnace. — This was on Forest of Dean 
Creek, and on a patent of that name, five miles west from 
Fort Montgomery, and on a bed of iron ore. This furnace 
made just twenty-one blasts when Fort Montgomery was 
taken by the English in 1777, and she never lit up her fires 
afterwards. It was apprehended that the close proximity of 
the English would make the works too hot even for the cast- 
ing of pig iron, and the owners extinguished her fires. 

Seamanville. — This is a small manufacturing establish- 
ment on the outlet of Round Pond, in the north west part of 
the town, and within a mile of Monroe Village, and owned 
by Mr. Peter Townsend. There is a grist mill at the place 
but no iron works. The N. Y. and Erie Rail Road runs 
through the place. 

Monroe Village. — This is in ihe north west part of the 
town, on the head water of the Ramapo, or outlet of Round 
Pond, and west of Seamanville. The Rail Road runs 
through it. The grist mill is owned by Messrs. Daniel and 
Jeremiah Knight. 

Turner's Depot. — This is the Rail Road Depot in this town. 
At the place there is a flour mill. It was originally called 
Centreville, because the roads concentrated there, and at the 
tine it was the centre of population and business. Formerly 
there was a forge there, erected by Mr. Secor, but not in op- 
eration. Mr. Peter Turner, the patron of the village, has 
the honor of the name. 

Woodbury. — This is on the stream issuing from Hazzard's 
Pond, in the north part of the town, and about two miles 
north of Highland Mills. Formerly there was a furnace in 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 569 

operation there, but by the consumption of all necessary ma- 
terials to conduct it for several miles round, the owners were 
compelled to let it go down, and the establishment is in ruins. 
We have understood that the site has been purchased up re- 
cently with a view of erecting and starting a flour mill and 
other works. The name is from Woodbury Clove, and ex- 
presses a "dwelling place in the woods." 

As we have previously remarked, the Ponds of this 
town are numerous, beautiful and eminently beneficial ; 
but we have not space to describe them individually as we 
should be pleased to do, and therefore must dismiss them af- 
ter we have called their names. They are, Hazzard's Pond, 
Round Pond, Duckcedar Pond, Mount Basha Pond, Ster- 
ling Pond, Little Long Pond, Carr Pond, Island Pond, 
Slaughter's Pond, Long Pond, Sutherland's Pond, Cedar 
Pond, and some others of lesser note. 

In the Geological survey of the county, the Ramapo is said 
to have its rise in "two ponds." This we think is an error, 
as "two ponds" are on the east mountains, and their waters 
run into the Hudson near Fort Montgomery. Round Pond, 
in the west part of the town, is doubtless the head of the 
Ramapo, the outlet of which runs west, and is seen at Mon- 
roe Village, Seamanvillc and Turner's Depot, where it is 
called the Ramapo. 

Duckcedar Pond is about two miles long and lies north 
and south. The water of the Pond is so nearly on a level 
with the vallies of Sterling and Ringwood, that during the 
Revolution, when the works on the Ramapo were liable to 
be interrupted by the English, a dam was placed across the 
outlet at the north, and the waters of the Pond made to flow 
to the south west, to supply the Ringwood furnace in New 
Jersey. This was a happy thought. This Pond is usually 
called Truxedo, which is probably a corruption of Duckcedar. 
It was a favorite haunt for that wild bird, and its margin was 
overgrown by the cedar trees. 

Died, Feb. 22, 1802, the widow Nesbitt, aged 102 years, 20 day?— born 
on 2d Feb., 1700. She lived in three different centuries — had two husbands 
— was the mother of fourteen sons and one daughter, and lived to see them 
all buried. 

1804, 17th Dec. Mr. David Smith of Southfield, was killed by a fall from 
his horse near Bloominggrove. 

AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 

1821, Lewis H. Roe, best timothy seed, 5 bushels, $5 00 

do do best buck, 8 00 

1S22, Lswis H. Roe, best farm in the town, 10 00 



570 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

Gilbert Horton. Goshen, September 4, 1820. 

On Thursday morning last, a man by the name of Gilbert Horton, about 
forty-four years old, of the town of Monroe, was brought to Goshen jail, 
charged with having committed a murder, twenty years ago.' 

A great variety of particulars in relation to this affair are already in cir- 
culation, and we deem it no infringement of the rights and privileges of any 
of the parties concerned, to publish the most correct statement we have been 
able to collect — our readers will expect it — we shall therefore give it to them. 

In the year 1800, a man named Amos Wood, living at or near Butter Hill, 
in the Highlands, died very suddenly : he was well in the evening and in the 
morning was found dead. We do not learn that any suspicions of murder 
were entertained at the time, or that the body underwent any examination. 
A report was prevalent, that Horton had been intimate with Mrs. Wood 
some time before Mr. Wood's death; but for the proof of this we cannot 
vouch. It is, however, true that soon after the death of Mr. Wood, Horton 
and Mrs. Wood lived together as man and wife. 

Some time after the death of Wood, (how long we are unable to say) cir- 
cumstances were unfolded which caused Mrs. Wood to be apprehended on 
charge of having murdered her husband. It was said she had been to New- 
burgh or New Windsor, and procured arsenic with which she poisoned him. 
Siie accordingly was arraigned at the circuit couit in this county, and alter 
the District Attorney had gone through with his testimony, the presiding 
judge toid him if he had nothing more to offer against her &he must be dis- 
charged, and she was accordingly set at liberty. This woman has been dead 
several years. If our recollection is correct, some suspicion was attached 
to Horton at the time, as having had a hand in the death of Mr. Wood, but 
he has never been apprehended for it until now. 

About five or six years ago, Horton was apprehended in the town of 
Monroe, for breaking open and robbing a house or store in Sussex county, 
New Jersey. He then appeared terrified at the idea of going to state prison, 
(and as the story goes, but this he now denies) he called two of his acquain- 
tances aside, and told them he had been once to the state prison, and that he 
had rather be hung than go there again, at the same time asserting that he 
alone poisoned Wood. He then requested them to go before a magistrate, 
qualify to his declaration and have him apprehended for murder. This was, 
however declined. In what manner he got clear of the robbery we are not 
informed ; report states that he turned state's evidence and exposed his ac- 
complices, but this he denies. 

It seems that Mr. Wood left a son, who has been absent from this part of 
the country for several years; and soon after his return heard the confession 
of Horton. He immediately resolved to have him brought to justice. Horton 
was accordingly apprehended, but made his escape. Mr. Wood, however, 
resolutely pursued him, and after faithfully traversing the mountains about 
a week, he discovered him near the mouth of his subterranean hiding place 
among the rocks. He was taken by surprise, and had no opportunity to de- 
fend himself. Mr. Wood presented a gun to his breast, telling him the mo- 
ment he attempted to stir or make any resistance he would blow him through, 
whilst another person in his company secured his hands. He had in his 
hand a cane with a sword or dagger in it, and a knife was found on him when 
he was brought to jail. 

Horton was convicted of manslaughter sixteen years ago, and went from 
this jail to the state piison, but was pardoned at the solicitation of his mother, 
when his term had about half expired. The circumstances of this transaction 
are briefly these : One James Mapes was deputised, or about to be deputised. 



TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE. 571 

to arrest Horton on some legal process. Horton was detei mined not to be 
taken. He seized a club, and warned those who were around him to stand 
off— but Mapes, approeching rather too near, received a blow on his head, 
which fractured his scull, and was considered the cause of his death. 



TOWN OF CORNWALL. 

All of the mountain iegion or highlands along the Hud- 
son in this county, are in this town, and during the war of 
the Revolution, it was deemed of prime necessity, to occupy 
and hold them in a military point of view. This was ren- 
dered especially necessary, when the English by their public 
operations evinced their intention to invade the State simul 
taneously from the north and south, and through the instru- 
mentality of the Hudson, to separate the Eastern from the 
Middle States, thus to weaken the concentrated energies of 
the country. To defeat such hostile intent on the part of 
the enemy, which if carried into execution would be so deep- 
ly injurious in its results, Congress directed the fortification 
of the Highlands and the obstruction of the river at different 
points, so as to prevent the ascent of the English shipping. 

With this view Forts Clinton, Montgomery, Constitution 
and Putnam, were ordered to be erected as early as 1775, 
though the whole of them were not completed and fully 
armed and garrisoned till 1777, shortly before being assault- 
ed, taken and demolished by the enemy. 

The first notice we find on the Records of 'he Continental 
Congress, in relation to fortifying the Highlands, was on the 
18th of August, 1775. 

Resolved and Ordered, That the fortifications formerly ordered by the 
Continental Congress, and reported by a committee of this Congress, as pro- 
per to be built on the banks of Hudson's River, in the Highlands, be imme- 
diately erected, and that Isaac Sears, Mr. John Berrien, Col.. Edward Flem- 
ming, Anthony Rutgers and Christopher Miller, be Commissioners, &c. 

A guard. of twenty-four men was appointed to accompany 
them. Mr. Romans was the Engineer who furnished the 
plans, &c. It is impossible from the recoids of the Congress 
to give anything like an accurate account of the building of 
the respective fortifications, for the commissioners were fre- 
quently changed, the reports do not designate the location of 
the forts respectively, and the Resolves of Congress general- 
ly speak of the fortifications in the Highlands. 



572 CORNWALL AND MONROE. 

Oct. 16, 1775, Barnard Romans made the following 1 Re- 
port to the committee of safety. 

Heavy cannon, such as of 18, 24 and 32 pounds, seem to be all that is 
wanted. I think on Saturday next to be able to mount from 12 to 18 cannon, 
8 of which might be heavy ones. We are in a miserable timber country — 
even facines are got with more difficulty than stones ; of the last we have 
such plenty, that in four days 150 perches of wall have been properly laid by 
twelve masons. The point on the west side, above Verplank's Point, is too 
easy of access, and in the vicinity of many ill-disposed people ; but at 
Pooploop's kill, opposite to Anthony's Nose is a very important pass. The 
river is narrow, commanded a great way up and down, full of counter cur- 
rents, and subject to almost constant fall winds; nor is there any anchorage 
at all, except close under the works to be erected, etc. I understand it will 
be an easy matter to obstruct the navigation of the river, so as to confine it 
to twelve or fourteen feet, and in that case it remains large enough for our 
use, etc. 

At the i eduction of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, Oct. 
6, 1777, the eyes of the government and of military men 
were more immediately directed to West Point as the most 
eligible point to defend the ascent of the river, and General 
Washington directed Gen. Putnam to determine the >pot at 
which the Highlands were to be fortified. He selected West 
Point, and to him belongs the honor and wise determination 
of locating on that beautiful and strong position for national 
defence, which was instantly began and completed d urine 
1778-79. 

These matters belong to general history, with which we 
have little to do, further than to illustrate our local history; 
and as they have been published long since and are to be 
found everywhere, we shall not enter into a detail of the war 
as it was then conducted, in the vicinity we speak of. 

All of our readers know the position and locality of these 
forts, and that they were on the margin of the Hudson in this 
town, except Fort Clinton, which was on the south side of Pop- 
lopen's Kill, in Rockland county, and about 600 yards from 
Fort Montgomery. Fort Putnam stands on the bights west 
of the Point, which it commands in a military point of view, 
which was the reason for planting it there, though we believe 
there is another elevation in the immediate vicinity which 
commands it, and therefore the location was injudiciously 
selected. This and the Point were not in possession of the 
English during the war, though Arnold, in his treasonable 
attempt to deliver the Point, came very near accomplishing 
such untoward result. 

As these spots are of patriot interest, alike to the young and 
aged of the county, it may be well to refresh the memory of 



TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE. 573 

the one and instruct the other by a short statement of some 
incidents which property belong to them, and with which 
they were associated during the time we speak of, lest we 
omit to place an offering upon the altar of our common coun- 
try, when our assumed position demands it at our hands. 

In executing this object we direct the attention of the read- 
er in the first place, to the attack, defence and reduction of 
Forts Clinton and Montgomery. The former was a small 
affair, and could only accommodate a garrison of 300 or 400 
men. Fort Montgomery was as large again, and could hold 
a garrison of 600 or 800. When these forts were assaulted 
by the English, the troops in Fort Clinton were principally 
militiamen, and full half of those in Fort Montgomery were 
of the same description, under the command of Gov. George 
Clinton, Gen. James Clinton also being there in a command. 
The regular troops, shortly before this time, had principally 
been withdrawn from the Highlands by the orders of Gen. 
Washington, which left these forts almost defenceless, ex- 
cept by the militia called out from Ulster, Orange, Dutchess 
and Westchester, to the number of 600 or 700. 

The English came up the river from New York in ships 
and transports, with 5,000 troops, under the command of Sir 
Henry Clinton, who intended to land his forces in the High- 
lands below the forts, and proceed up by land. The whole 
of that assault, defence and capture, are best set forth in the 
dispatches of Gov. Clinton, and which we copy. 

New Windsor, 7th Oct., 1777. 
" Gentlemen — The extreme fatigue I have undergone the 
three days past, and the want of rest for an equal number of 
nights, renders me unfit to write you on matters of so serious 
consequences to this State, as I have to communicate. I am 
able only briefly to inform you, that yesterday about 10 o'- 
clock, A. M. our advanced party was attacked by the enemy 
at Doodle Town, about two and a half miles from Fort Mont- 
gomery : they consisted of but 30 men ; the enemy by appear- 
ance and accounts, so far received, of 5,000. They received 
the enemy's fire and returned it, and retreated to Fort Clin- 
ton ; soon after, we received intelligence that the enemy 
were advancing on the west side of the mountain, with de- 
sign to attack us in rear. Upon this I ordered out Lieut. 
Colos. Bruyn and McClaghry, with upwards of 100 men, 
towards Doodle Town, and a brass field piece, with a detach- 
ment of 60 men, on every advantageous post on the road to 
the furnace. They were not long out, before they were both 



574 CORNWALL AND MONROE. 

attacked by the enemy with their whole force ; our people 
behaved with spirit, and must have made great slaughter of 
the enemy. I strengthened the party on the furnace road to 
upwards of 100, but they were obliged to give way to so su- 
perior a force as the enemy brought against them. They 
kept their field piece in full play at them, till the men who 
worked it were drove off with fixed bayonets, then spiked it, 
and retreated with great good order to a 12 pounder, which I 
had ordered to cover them, and from thence in the fort. I 
immediately posted my men in the most advantageous man- 
ner for the defence of the post, and it was not many minutes 
before, as well our post as Fort Clinton was invested on all 
sides, and a most incessant fire kept up till night ; and soon 
after dusk, when the enemy forced our lines and redoubts at 
both posts, and the garrisons were obliged to fight their way 
out, as many as could, as we were determined not to surren- 
der, and many have escaped. 

" I was summoned, sun an hour high, to surrender in five 
minutes, and thereby prevent the effusion of blood. I sent 
Lieut. Colo. Livingston to receive the flag, who informed 
them that he had no orders to treat with them, except to re- 
ceive their proposals, if they meant to surrender themselves 
prisoners of war, in which case he was empowered to assure 
them good usage. About ten minutes after, they made a 
general and desperate attack on both posts, which was re- 
jd with great spirit, but we were at length overpowered 
by numbers, and they gained the possession of both posts. — 
Officers and men behaved with great spirit, as well Continen- 
tal troops as militia. Our loss in slain can not be great, 
considering the length of the action. My brother, General 
Clinton, is wounded, and I believe made prisoner. This is 
the case with Major Logan. The number of missing I can 
not ascertain. The ships are both burnt and Fort Constitu- 
tion demolished, by our people, without my orders ; but I can 
not, as yet, condemn the measure. The officers all say it 
was right. I am clear it was as to the fort, after removing 
artillery and stores, which has not been done. The ships I 
hoped might have been saved. Genl, Putnam will retreat 
to near Capt. Haight's, about three miles from Mrs. Van 
Wyck's, and I mean to rally my broken but. brave forces, 
and advance to-morrow on Butter Hill. Genl. Putnam is to 
send Colo. Webb's regiment, to join me. 

w I beg you will give the substance of this account to Genl. 
Gates, in answer to his letter to me. I have only to add that 
I greatly regret the loss of those posts; but I am consoled 



TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 575 

with the full persuasion that they have bought them dear, 
and that I have done the most in my power to save them. I 
beg* you to excuse incorrectness, 

"And am with due respect, 

"Your mostobddt. servt. 

" GEO. CLINTON. 
"P. S. Major Lush is, I believe, their prisoner." 

Gentlemen — I wrote to the Legislature yesterday, giving 
them as particular an account of the loss of forts Montgomery 
and Clinton as I was then able ; since which, I have the 
pleasure to inform you, that Genl. Clinton is got in, and his 
wound does not appear to be any ways dangerous. Many 
other of our officers have also arrived, who we had reason to 
believe, were made prisoners. Not more than eleven officers 
of Colo. Duboy's regiment arc missing; two hundred of his 
men, including non-commissioned officers, have already join- 
ed me at this place ; many more of them may be hourly ex- 
pected, as we have heard of their escape. Many also of the 
artillery companies, who were at those posts, have escaped 
and joined us, and more of them arc hourly expected. 

" The night I left Fort Montgomery, as my escape was 
effected by crossing the river, I waited on Genl. Putnam, at 
Continental village, in order to concert the proper measures 
to be pursued after this unfortunate event. The general 
officers there agreed in opinion with me, that the intention 
of the enemy, under Sir Henry Clinton, was to relieve Bur- 
g-Dyne's army, by effecting a junction with him ; that as the}" 
had carried the forts, their next object was to pass the che- 
vaux-de-frize, so proceed up the river. The posts at Pee k^ 
kill and Sydnam's, by the loss of those which command the 
navigation, have lost their importance : it was therefore 
agreed that Genl. Putnam should retreat with his army to a 
very defensible pass in the mountains, about three miles 
from Fishkill, where ho is, in the most speedy manner, to 
get in the eastern militia. I am to rally my forces near this 
place, call on all the militia of Orange and this end of Ulster ; 
also to be furnished with a Continental regiment from Genl. 
Putnam's army to defend tiie chevaux-de-frize in the best 
manner I can ; and that as soon as we find the enemy can 
raise or pass it, both armies to move northward, so as to keep 
pace with the enemy, covering those parts of the country, 
which will be their greatest object, until they shall think 
proper to land. 

"As soon as ever I. find the shipping are likely to pass the* 



576 



CORNWALL AND MONKOE, 



chevaux-de-frize, I will, by a forced march, endeavor to gain 
Kingston and cover that town. I shall have one brass 24 
pounder and six smaller brass field pieces which will make 
a formidable train. 

"I am pursuaded if the militia will join me, (which I 
have reason to hope,) we can save the country, (a few scat- 
tering houses along the river excepted,) from destruction, and 
defeat the enemy's design in assisting their northern army. 

" A deserter, who had been taken and forced to enlist in 
Col. Fanning's regiment, came in to us yesterday from the 
enemy at Fort Montgomery : he deserted immediately after 
it was taken, and informs me that the enemy's loss was very 
great ; that Genl. Sir Henry Clinton commanded in person ; 
had three general officers with him ; their force was 5,000 — 
three thousand of them British troops and Hessian yangeis, 
the remainder new levies — commanded by Brigr. Genl. Bev- 
erly Robertson and Colo. Fanning. I have only to add, that 
though the country esteem the posts lost, of the greatest im- 
portance, yet the manner in which they were defended, has 
given such general satisfaction as to elate and not depress 
their spirits. I am, with esteem, gentlemen, 

"Your most obt. hble. servt. 

" GEO. CLINTON." 



DaviJ Mc Hollister, 

Thaddeus Kneely, 
John McDonalds, 
John ConkJin, 
James Montanger, 
Henry Ostrander, 
Jacobus Louquer, 
David Breviers, 
Vincent Vincy, 
Jeremiah Dunn, 
Robert Patrick, 
liam Baxter, 
Benjamin Wilsey, 
David Winchester, 
Luis D'ckerson, 
John Ivory, 
Nathaniel Otter, 
Eliakim Buch, 
Robert Gillispie, 
Abraham Wright, 
Jonathan Hallock, 
James Wehion, 
Thomas Sinn. 



i List of Men taken at Fort Montgomery. 

COL. DUEOIS'S REGIMENT. 

Martin Shay, 
Thomas Harwell, 
Patemock Durgan, 
Samuel Crosby, 
Moses Shall, ' 
John West, 
John Mcintosh, 
Henry Schoonmaker, 
Joseph Morgan, 
Jonathan Stoekheim, 
Abel Randall, 



Thomas ICune, 
William Banker, 
Peter Wells, 
Joseph Dreneyk, 
John Weston, 
Michael Burgh, 
Thomas Smith, 
Thomas Conklin, 
Ephraim Adams, 
Francis Seers, 
^amnel Garrison, 
William Wilbig, 



Jacobus Sanbush, 
John Brown, 
George Bolton, 
Aurie Mass, 
James Michael, 
John Johnston, 
Nelich Snifiin, 
Solomon Shaw, 
James Monteitli. 
Daniel Lowers, 
John Hunt, 
Michael Johnston. 
Joseph Reeder, : 
John Price, 
Robert Marshall, 
John Saterly, 
Lieut. Traverse, 
James Amerman, 
Harman Crums, 
Samuel Griffin, 
Cornelius Acker,. 
Jacob Larrence. 
Francis Goans 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 



577 



Samuel Turner, 
Daniel Dimmock, 
John Whitlock, 
Jocobus TerwilJiger, 
James Steel, 
Thomas dispell, 
Enus Luier, 
Jacobus Lenty, 
John Albigh, 
Alex. De Key, 
Samuel Boyds, 
William Werner, 



Samuel Taylor, 
James Bell, 
Robert Cater, 
.Richard Shorter, 
Richard Koyle, 
James Thompson/ 
Timothy Cornon, 

Henry M. Neely, 
Robert Henry, 
William Scott, 
Matthew Duboys, 
Francis Ale Bride, 
Robert Huston, 
Andrew Wilson, 
Christopher Sypher, 
John Dankis, 
William Stenson, 
William Humphrey, 
George Humphrey, 
James Miller. 



nelius Rose, 
^e Wilkin, 
Simeon Ostrander, 

John Stevenson, 



John Brooks, 

.■i Lamerey, 
Henry Cunningham, 

ne Crooks, 
William Prince, 
Li man Cavins, 
Israel Cushman, 



Abraham Jordan, 
John Storm or Stone, 
Thomas McCarty, 
Thomas Hendricks, 
Jones Chamberline, 
Zebulon Woodruff, 
Paul Kryler, 
George Heck, 
John Miller, 
John Ellison, 
William Ivory, 
John Stanly, 

COL. ELLISON'S REGIMENT, 

Michael Dannon, 
James Sardyer, 
Joseph More, 
Jesse Dannon, 
Peter Jones, 
Uriah Black, 
Caleb Ashley, 



Benjamin Griffin, 
Enos Sniffin, 
Joseph Belton, 
James Hannah, 
Wm. Shut, 
Benjamin Chichester, 
Francis Drake, 
Jasper Smith, 
Wm. Caselbton, 
Edward Allen, 
William Bardie, 



Frederick Noohion, 
David Weller, 
Peter Stage, 
Isaac Kechum, 
Henry Brewster, 
Frederick PelJiger, 



col. m'claughrie's regiment. 



John Skinner, 
Gradus Vinegar, 
Bolton Vandick, 
Cornelius Slutt, 
William Howell, 
John Hanar, 
Robert Barklay, 
James Wood, 
David Thompson, * 
Elias Wool], 
William McMullen, 
Isaac Denton, 



George Brown, 
Eethan Seers, 
Philip Millspaugh, 
John Van Arsdell, 
George Coleman, 
Albert Weels, 
Hezekiah Kane, 
John Manney, 
Isaac Rinbrick, 
Samuel Falls, 
Moses Cantine, 
John Carmichel, 



col. hasbrouck's regiment. 

Zachariah Terwilliger, Cornelius Stevens, 
Wm. Warren, 
Benjamin Laurence, 
Robert Cooper. 

col. woodhull's regiment. 



John Bingham, 
John Snyder, 



Asa Barnsly, 
Thomas Hacter, 
Jesse Carpenter, 
Benj. Simmons, 
Isaac Cooly, 
Joshua Currey, 
James Thompson, 



col. hammon s regiment, 
col. dr/.ke's regiment. 

holems' regiment. Cornelius Corncling, 

2K 



Stephen Clark, 
James Michel. 
John Armstrong, 
Peter Giilen, 
Edward Thompson, f 
Randal Hause, 
Isaac Huffman. 

Zachariah Taylor. 

John Van Tassel, 

WUJiam Randal. 






578 



TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE. 



COL. OGDEN S REGIMENT. 

eoL. antill's regiment. 

WAGONERS 

Elias Van Valers, 

UNKNOWN. 

Jesse Lock wood, 
Jolias Liur, 
George Depew, 

GOL. LAMB*S REGIMENT ARTILLERY. 



Thomas Cook. 
Jonathan Nichols. 



John Randals, 

John Donalds, 
Joseph Mead. 
George Peck, 



Samuel Anderson. 



Oras Vanplank. 
Albert Vantal. 



J 



Elispeh Patty, 
! i Clark, 
Hull Peck. 
William Taylor, 
Edward Hern, 
I ... Linsy, 
David Penbrook. 
Thomas Griffith, 
Robert English, 



David Stone, 
John Levichell, 
Hugh McCal'l, 
Thadeus Barns, 

Alex. Hoffer, 
David Hmimore, 
James Shaver, 
William Swan, 
Alex. McCoy, 



John Patterson, 
John Nelson. 
Israel Smith, 
Samuel Ferman, 
Alex.,Young, 
John Kelly, 
John Gardner, 
Timothy Nichols. 
John Gardner. 



West Point. — This place was deemed of national impor- 
tance as a military post dining - the Revolution. At the closi 
of the war, the deeply interesting point was thoroughly can- 
vassed and considered, how can the country get along, be 
prepared for war, and how successfully defended without a 
standing army of some kind. Such was the public sentiment 
at that day all over the civilized world, that every nation 
must have a standing army ; but here, the public opinion 
was principled against it, while the government and men 
of practical intelligence, were aware of the danger of wholly 
dispensing with one, and at the same time keep alive that 
military knowledge and spirit from year to year, which the 
future exigencies of the Republic might demand. After the 
subject was maturely deliberated on, Gen. Washington pro- 
posed to Congress in 1793, the founding of a school for in- 
struction in the theory of the art of wai . Subsequently, unci 
when Congress in turn had duly canvassed the point, they 
passed a law in 1802 establishing the school at West Point. 
which remained a small affair, scarcely national in magni- 
tude till IS 12, when our difficulties with England became 
more threatening and truly ominous of danger, and the 
school was placed by the Government on its present enlarged 
plan and permanent footing. Since which time, many offi- 
cers of worth anii true military bearing, have been educated 
here, who on every occasion, whether in Florida, Texas, 
Mexico or elsewhere, have nobly done their duty and honor- 
ed the country. Objections to this institution have never 
been wanting, with a certain class of politicians, who had qq 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 579 

better way to bring themselves into notice with the people, 
and true democracy, than to declaim against it. We are 
compelled to say, from our best recollection, that those who 
knew the least about the instruction given, or its practical 
benefits, were the loudest in condemnation. We recollect 
no direct attempt to put down this institution originating 
with, and systematically conducted by y the talented, well- 
informed and patriotic members in Congress. The objec- 
tions generally have been two ; one, that it was unnecessary, 
for the army could at any and at all times be officered as 
well, safely and etficiently, from citizens in the walks of pri- 
vate life, as from a corps of educated men, thoroughly taught 
in the various learning of the military art r and frequently 
drilied in army movements. The statement of the objection, 
carries along with it, its manifest refutation, unless we are 
prepared to admit the same principle as true, in the multifa- 
rious pursuits of life, which no sensible man practices upon. 
It is true, education does not impart physical courage, but it 
gives a confidence and inspires a prospect of safety and suc- 
cess ; by means of which, the raw recruit and common sol- 
dier will rally with greater assurance of suecess round one, 
than the other. That it is aristocratic in its tendencies and 
practical results, constitute the other objection. The point 
of this objection has always been, that the school educated 
the sons of the rich and influential only. This never was 
true to the extent of excluding the children of less favored 
parents, and if it were so at any early peiiod, it is not at pre- 
sent, nor has been for many years. From the manner in 
which appointments are now made, this objection never can 
be well founded, if the representatives of the people are hon- 
est and true to the interests of their constituents. Every 
Congressional District is entitled to a member in this school, 
and if there should be more than one applicant, the War 
Department will always select the one recommended by the 
member in Congress from the district. The objection there- 
fore, hereafter, cannot be against the school or the improper 
action of the government in the matter ; but against the man- 
ner of appointment and the conduct of the Representa- 
tive. We believe, that so honestly has this mode of appoint- 
ment been carried into execution, that the pale-faced youth 
of the city is found side by side the stronger and more robust 
boy from the country ; and the son of the poor and industri- 
ous mechanic, is seen shoulder to shoulder with the heir of 
him, who is high in office, or worth his thousands ; all- 
fighting manfully together,, the battles of the country. FJQNfi 



5S0 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

years instruction at the Point, of the most varied, thorough 
and searching character, must in the nature of things impart 
that, which no man can know by intuition, relative to mili- 
tary affairs. That there are, and may have been, exceptions 
to the rule, proves nothing ; we speak of the general princu 
pie upon which all men act in other matters of interest in 
common life, and any person can make the application. The 
education is mechanical as well as strictly militarv : for, as 
we understand, the cadets are taught the duties of foot sol- 
diers and the construction of all instruments used in attack 
and defence. Though opposed to war in every possible con- 
dition of things, still, until Christendom be of the same opin- 
ion, and inclined to practice accordingly, we hold up both 
hands for the preservation of this school. 

But to be more particular in the description of this locality 
and school, we offer the following remarks, kindly furnished 
by a gentleman well acquainted with the subject about 
which he writes, and for which we here return him our 
thanks. 

"West Point will ever occupy a prominent place in the an- 
nals of America. It is intimately connected with the history 
of our liberty and our existence as an independent nation. — 
At an early period chosen as a military station, it became the 
strong-hold of the army during the Revolution, and was em- 
phatically the Gibralter of our hopes. The key to New Eng- 
land and the Middle States, it formed one of the greatest har- 
riers to the operations of the British, whose bold and deep- 
laid plans for its destruction proved their well-grounded con- 
viction of its strength and importance. Had the fiendish 
machinations of the perjured traitor been crowned with suc- 
cess, a deep — nay fatal blow must have been struck to the 
cause of Freedom. But the God of Battles was on the side 
of the weak and oppressed. He placed in operation those 
means which crushed the foul plot on the very verge of its 
denouement, and overwhelmed with disgrace and ignominy 
thosc who were lending their aid to its consummation. Ne- 
ver can we be sufficiently grateful for the intervention of 
Providence in this crisis of affairs, when the dark clouds of 
adversity which had been gathering from all quarters were 
just ready to burst upon our devoted heads with all their fu- 
ry ; and render a cause, already desperate, absolutely hope- 
less. The Genius of Liberty had well-nigh winged its flight 
to more congenial regions, when recovering from the shock, 
it atoned for its momentary revery by sleepless vigilance, and 
fixed its abode in these everlasting hills. The footsteps of 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 581 

Washington and Kosciusco have hallowed this spot. About 
a mile to the north is a beautiful little valley, almost hid by 
the over-hanging hills which lend their deep, cool, shade to 
avert from it the heat of the summer's sun. Its smooth beach 
is washed by the dark waters of the Hudson, whilst through 
it flows with gentle murmurs a pure stream of cool water 
from the deep ravine formed by the surrounding hills. Here. 
Was Washington's head quarters, and the retired little spot is 
at this day known as Washington's Valley ! On the east the 
shore is bold and abrupt, and, even at the present time, wild, 
well-wooded, and picturesque. Many a miniature promon- 
tory and retired recess mark the general outline ; whilst 
rock piled upon rock in huge masses gives a wild confusion 
to the scenery. One spot there is especially, where the solid 
granite lifts itself perpendicularly from the river to a great 
hight. About 100 feet from its base it recedes, forming a 
1 level space of a few feet in area, when it towers up again till 
! it reaches the table land above. This natural platform is 
reached by a long flight of stone steps from above, and is 
i graced with a few shrubs and shade trees, and a fountain fed 
' by a stream from the adjacent hight. This retired and ro- 
| mantic spot when in its orignal wilderness used to be the fa- 
i vorite resort of Kosciusco whilst staiioned at the Point, and is- 
1 still known as ' Kosciusco's Garden.' On the north the shore 
I is less abrupt, and slopes more gradually towards the river. 
j Bordering on the water's edge is the little village of Camp- 
, town, where are quartered the families of the soldiers and 
laborers connected with the Post. The Artillery, Dragoon, 
I and Band barracks are in the immediate vicinity. Near the 
I eastern extremity of this slope is the public wharf, at which 
all the regular boats land on their passage up and down the 
river. At this point are stationed the cannon which the ca- 
dets use in practising upon the target about a mile beyond, 
near Washington's Valley. A very fine road winds along the 
side of the hill, from the wharf to the plain above. Near the 
brow of the hill are two large stone stables for the cavalry. 
A turreted wall of stone masonry also encloses a square area, 
which is used as a place of storage : a number of pieces of 
ordnance and various Revolutionary relics are deposited here: 
within this space also stand three small stone buildings which 
are severally used as a Laboratory, a Blacksmith's and a 
Joiner^s Shop. The Plain occupies an area of about 80 acres, 
and in shape is a trapezium of which the two longest sides 
border upon the river. On the south the table land contin- 
ues with more or less undulations to the distance of several 



582 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

miles. In the rear, hill rises upon hill till lost in the loftiest 
peaks. On one of the highest of these hills, called ' Mount 
Independence,' stands Fort Putnam, a fortification of no lit- 
tle renown. It was commenced in 1778, and, considering the 
time and circumstances in which it was built, is an immense 
piece of work. It occupies a large space, and is built of the 
gneiss rock, though the mortar used in its construction has 
by its decomposition given it precisely the appearance of 
limestone. The hight of its walls will average about 20 ft: 
in the rear it abuts upon a precipice of more than 100 feet. — 
Time and the hand of violence have done much to deprive 
it of its original glory. Already have all the turrets and em- 
brazures gone, and deep chasms are yawning in the main 
fortification. Several of the large casemates remain entire, 
whilst but the traces of others are visible. It is a noble ruin, 
and seems worthy of a better fate than to be suffered thus to 
crumble away piecemeal in decay. The situation is a com- 
manding one, and the surrounding view is truly grand, com- 
prising as it does the amphitheatre of hills and mountains, 
the Hudson, and the Point itself with its smooth green Plain, 
its white tents, and neat edifices. The ruins of numerous 
smaller fortifications and redoubts are visible from this eleva- 
tion ; the principal of which are forts Webb and Wyllys. — 
Indeed every eminence of importance in the neighborhood 
has its ruins of bastions and ramparts — incontrovertible wit- 
nesses of the ' times that tried men's souls.' North of the 
Point and above Washington's Valley is the Cemetery, a 
retired spot, on the brow of a bold promontory, and now the 
resting-place of several cadets and former residents of the 
Post. A number of neat and beautiful monuments adorn the 
grounds and record the names and virtues of the sleepers be- 
neath. Above and beyond towers in all its pristine grandeur, 
stern old Crows' Nest. Rocky and precipitous it rears its 
crest 1400 feet above the water at its base. Clothed in ma- 
jesty, it appears a giant sentinel placed there to guard the 
peaceful scene within from the din and confusion of the outer 
world, and to forbid intrusion upon its sacred charge. The 
view from its summit is surpassingly grand — nay enchant- 
ing. A pannorama comprising every variety of scenery sud- 
denly bursts upon the eye, surprising and bewildering the 
beholder with its extent, beauty, and sublimity. Time would 
fail us were we to attempt to enumerate any more than the 
most important objects of interest in the neighborhood of 
West Point. Being situated on an elevation of 160 feet, it is 
not seen to good advantage from the water beneath. On the 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. :>. ~> 

Southern exposure however, the Hospital, Academic Build- 
ing-, Chapel and Library, strike the eye — all fine edifices, 
and built principally of stone from the neighboring quarries. 
The Academic Building is 275 feet by 75, and three stories 
high. The greater part of the lower story is used as a Rid- 
ing Hall during the winter : it also contains a Fencing-room 
and a Gymnasium, for the Cadets. On the second floor are 
recitation rooms, the Quarter Master's and Treasurer's offi- 
ces, and the Engineering room. On the the third fioor, is 
the Mineralogical Cabinet, the Drawing Academy, well 
lighted from above, and several Galleries of Sculpture and 
Painting. Besides this, some of the young officers have their 
quarters in various parts of the building. The Chapel is a 
neat little edilice, calculated to accommodate about 500 per- 
sons, and contains a fine painting by Weir, intended to con- 
vey a very appropriate moral. The Library Building is of 
Gothic Architecture, and presents a very fine appearance 
from without ; and is well finished within. The room appro- 
priated to the Library is exceedingly convenient and spacious, 
with highly ornamented ceilings, and stained-glass windows. 
It contains about 15,000 volumes ; chiefly Scientific, Histo- 
rical, and Biographical works. In the same edifice are the 
Philosophical and Astronomical rooms. Farther on the 
Plain, and not visible from the water, are the Cadets' Bar- 
racks — two in number — built at right-angles to each other. 
There they are quartered during the greater part of the year, 
whilst engaged in their studies ; three or four being assigned 
to a room, some of which are extremely small and uncomfor- 
table. This however is soon to be remedied, and new and 
spacious barracks are now in process of erection on the south 
west corner of the Plain, which are every way calculated for 
the comfort and convenience of those who are to occupy them. 
During July and August the Cadets are encamped upon the 
Plain, and having no recitations, are principally employed in 
drilling and in various kinds of camp duties. This time is 
also given to the second class to be absent on Furlough, 
which generally reduces the corps to little more than half 
its number in the summer months. Near the barracks is the 
"Mess Hall,' where all the Cadets are required to board in 
common, being marched to and from their meals with the 
same precision that regulates all their movements. At the 
base of the hills, in the rear, is a row of neat stone and brick 
houses occupied by the Professors and their families; and the 
various officers connected with the institution. There is but 
one Hotel in the place; and this during the summer is well 



584 TOWNS OF BL00MINGGROVE, 

filled with visitors. It commands a beautiful view of the 
liver as far up as Newburgh, and also for three or four miles 
below, until it is lost amid the mountains. Near the Hotel, 
and directly above Gee's Point at the bend of the river, is 
situated Fort Clinton, of which nothing- but the mounds, 
overgrown with turf, now remain. Within its limits is Kos- 
oiusco's monument, a neat and simple tribute of respect from 
the corps of Cadets, erecied in 182S. Just above Kosciosco's 
Garden, has been recently erected a monument to the mem- 
ory of Major Dado and his Command, who fell in the Florida 
A square block of marble, on which are (lie inscrip- 
tions, rests upon a granite base. At each corner is an upright 
non, supporting a projecting cap. Above this rises a 
graceful column, surmounted by an eagle with extended pin- 
ions, and grasping in his beak a Wreath of laurel which en- 
circles the shaft to its base. It is a beautiful piece of sculp- 
ture, and forms a striking and picturesque object in the scen- 
ery from the water. 

Contiguous to the Public Lands, south of the Ceded Ter- 
ritory, lies the property of Z. J. D. Kinsley, Esq., a graduate 
of the Military Academy, and for along time an instructor in 
the Institution. After continuing in the service 17 years, h< 
resigned his commission in the army, and retiring to private 
life soon after established an Academy on his own responsi- 
bility. The Institution is known as the ' Classical and Ma- 
thematical School,' and occupies one of the finest locations 
amid the highlands. It has no connection with the Military 
Academy, being entirely independent and separate from it. 
Standing as it does more than 250 feet above the water, on 
the brow of one of those wood-crowned bights, mid-way be- 
tween the river and the mountain beyond, it possesses a 
beautiful southern exposure, and a most commanding pros- 
pect. The spacious buildings occupy the very site of a Rev- 
olutionary fortification, being one of a chain of redoubts ex- 
tending from Fort Putnam to the river. Thus has its war- 
like glory passed away, its ramparts have been levelled, and 
Mars has yielded to Flora, the goddess of flowers and blos- 
soms. In the rear, Fort Wyllys frowns upon it from an over- 
hanging bight, and now but a wreck of its former grandeur 
opposes itself as a barrier to the fury of the north west blasts 
which dash against its time-worn bastions. From this site 
the Hudson assumes the aspect of a natural lake, entirely 
barricadoed from egress at any point by the surrounding hills, 
which to all appearance form a perfect basin. The powerful 
steamboat, darts from behind a wooded crag ; parts the smooth 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 585 

waters with homed strokes, and in a few moments is lost a- 
gain to view as if by magic. The snow white sail issues 
from the green hills, dashes on in mad career before the fav- 
oring breeze, and anon seems disappearing into the caverns * 
ofiEolus,the sovereign of the winds. The highlands of the 
Hudson ! What beauty, what variety of picturesque scenery 
do they present ! Such being the favorable location of the 
school, it is found to be remarkably healthy during every pe- 
riod of the year. The discipline combines the strictness and 
accuracy of Military Police with Parental care and discrimi- 
nation. The course of instruction is comprehensive, includ- 
ing all the usual preparatory branches of a thorough English 
and Classical education. In Latin and Greek a pupil may 
be fitted to enter at an advanced standing in any of our Col- 
leges or Universities, or if he prefers it may read the whole 
course as far as it is pursued in such institutions. The most 
approved course of Mathematics has been adopted in the 
school, and is pursued with great care and accuracy, as being 
one of the best means of enlarging and strengthening the 
mental capacity of youth. The French language is very gen- 
erally studied by the pupils, in the rudiments of which they 
are thoroughly drilled. An opportunity is also afforded of 
acquiring a knowledge of the German and Spanish langua- 
ges ; and to such as desire it, instruction is given in Instru- 
mental and Vocal Music. One of the most important and 
peculiar features of the Institution is the Military Exercise to 
which its pupils are subjected. They are regularly organ- 
ized as a Company, and, though it is not the design of the 
School to provide a Military Education, are required to per- 
form such military duties and exercises as contribute to dis- 
cipline, to health, and to an easy and graceful carriage. The 
daily drill quite familiarizes them with the practical duties 
of the soldier, and is found admirably to answer every pur- 
pose for which it was introduced. Frequent roll-calls, and 
class-parades, and marching to and from recitations ami 
meals infuse into them a spirit of subordination highly con- 
ducive to their general improvement. In short, military pre- 
cision pervades the whole system, imparting to it that life 
and energy which could by no other means be attainable. — 
The uniform consists of a blue cloth roundabout, standing 
collar, with a single row often gilt figured buttons in front, 
and four at each wrist — the button being a miniature repre- 
sentation of the school, including the Hudson and the Moun- 
tains in the rear. Blue cloth pantaloons with a stripe of 
black velvet on the outer seams from the waist to the ancle, 



586 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE. 

complete the winter attire : whilst in summer, pantaloons of 
white drilling are substituted. When on dress parade in full 
uniform, with all their accoutrements and muskets, they pre- 
sent quite an imposing appearance. The Academic year is 
divided into two terms of five months each. The winter 
term commences on the 1st of November and closes on the 
31st of March ; the summer term on the 1st of May and clos- 
es on the 30th of September ; thus leaving the months of 
April and October for vacations. At the close of every month 
a Report exhibiting the scholarship and behavior of each pu- 
pil is sent to his parent or guardian. There is an examina- 
tion at the end of every month, besides a general examina- 
tion at the close of each term. The exercises on these occa- 
sions are public, and indeed at all times the school is open to 
visitors. A carefully selected Library of upwards of 1000 
volumes is provided for pupils to read in their leisure mo- 
ments : it consists of the works of such authors as may be 
read with safety and profit by youth. Mr. Kinsley is assisted 
in the duties of the school by several graduates of Yale and 
Union Colleges, and can, as occasion requires, obtain the 
services of accomplished instructors connected with the Mili- 
tary Academy. A better and more advantageous location 
for such an Institution could not be desired. Shut out from 
the din of the busy world, quiet and secluded, it affords every 
inducement to study, and seems intended by nature for just 
such a seat of learning. 

The whole number of inhabitants at West Point, includ- 
ing Professors, Officers, Cadets, citizens, and their families, 
amounts to about 1000. The number of Cadets is at present 
limited to the number of Congressional Districts, besides a 
few appointments at large made by the President. Should 
a vacancy occur by dismissal or graduation it may be sup- 
plied from the same district, the appointee being admitted at 
the next June examination. The course is limited to four 
years, and no Cadet is allowed to enter at an advanced stand- 
ing. Usually but about one third of the original class grad- 
uate. The average number in each graduating class is 40. 
In 1844 but 25 received commissions, last year (1846) 60. It 
is well known that strict discipline is one of the first things 
taught at the Institution, but even this is not onerous to those 
who are disposed to obey. After graduating, each Cadet is 
required to remain in the Army four years, thus making in 
all, eight years from the time he enters. There is but one 
furlough during the course ; every class after having com- 
pleted its second year is permitted to be absent during the 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 587 

encampment, or the months of July and August. Each Ca- 
det receives $28 per month ; out of which he is to pay for his 
board, clothing-, books, furniture and incidental expenditures. 
After deducting for all these purposes, some manage to lay 
by a small sum during the four years ; generally, however, 
but little of the savings of their pay remains after purchasing 
their Regimental Uniforms. While at the Academy the uni- 
form is quite plain and not very expensive. It consists of a 
coatee of gray cloth, single breasted, standing collar, with 
three rows of gilt bell buttons on the breast : pantaloons of 
the same material, with a black velvet stripe down the out- 
side seam, for winter wear ; and of white drilling, for sum- 
mer. The corps of Cadets is divided into four companies, 
which are regularly organized for military exercise and in- 
struction. During the encampment they are instructed in 
company drill, after entering barracks, during the autumn, 
having become well acquainted with all the evolutions by 
companies, they are prepared to enter upon battalion drill, 
and evolutions of the line. But without going more into de- 
tail, we will give the course of instruction as concisely laid 
down in the Regulations for the Military Academy. — 1st, 
Infantry Tactics, and Military Police — 2d, Mathematics — 
3d, the French Language — 4th, Drawing — 5th, Natural 
Philosophy — 6th, Chemistry and Mineralogy — 7th, Artille- 
ry Tactics, the Science of Gunnery, and the Duties of a Mil- 
itary Laboratory — 8th, Engineering and the Science of War 
— 9th, Geography, History, and Ethics — 10th, The use of 
the Sword. Each department is separate, and lias its own 
Professor or offieer, and whatever extra assistants may be re- 
quired. In addition to their regular studies the Cadets have 
a society among themselves for improvement in Literary ex- 
ercises. It was established a number of years ago, but for 
some reason it was for a time discontinued ; within a few 
years it has been revived again, and is now in a very flour- 
ishing condition. It is known as the Dialectic Society. In 
the regular course there are two examinations during the 
year; one in June, the other in January. These are very 
thorough ordeals, and are designed as accurate tests of the 
application and improvement of the Cadets. 

It would fill a volume in itself were we to undertake a ve- 
ry minute description of West Point, its scenery, Military 
Academy and other objects of interest. In our attempt to 
give an idea of the most important features, we have endea- 
vored to be as concise as appeared compatible with clearness 
and perspicuity. Before dismissing the subject however, a 



588 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

brief and cursory glance at the early history of the Military 
Academy may not be uninteresting - . 

At the close of the Revolutionary war, whilst the nation 
was yet in its earliest infancy, it seemed necessary to provide 
some means of defence, without the burden and danger of 
maintaining a large standing army. The most feasible plans 
had been again and again discussed in Congress, without, 
receiving any unanimous concurrence, until Washington 
proposed that an Institution be established for the instruction 
of youth in the science of war, with a view to organizing a 
corps sufficient to officer our armies in any case of emergency. 
As officers are the nerve and sinew of an army, this plan ap- 
peared better than any previously offered, and consequently 
was immediately adopted. Although this was as early as 
1793, yet owing to the difficulties and delays incident to such 
an enterprise, especially in the then unsettled condition of 
our affairs, the plan proposed by Washington was not fully 
carried out till 1802, when West Point, already a military 
station, was fixed upon as the place best adapted to the loca- 
tion of the Institution. A few buildings were erected, sev- 
eral instructors appointed, and about 20 young men were 
sent on to learn the science of arms. Still the enterprise was 
a novelty, and required time and experience to ensure suc- 
cess. Gradual improvements were made from year to year, 
though owing to the many difficulties and obstacles it had to 
contend with, the existence of the Academy seemed at times 
very precarious. Thus matters continued till 1812. The 
commencement of the war aroused all the latent military 
zeal in the country, and the Institution was the first object 
of attention. The number of Professors was much increased; 
new and commodious buildings were erected ; and the corps 
of Cadets greatly enlarged — provision being made for the 
education of 260 which was henceforth to be the limit. Five 
years subsequent to this enlargement, the accession of Col. 
Thayer to the command at West Point, and the superinten- 
dence of the Military Academy, gave a new and unprece- 
dented impetus to affairs. He, himself having been one of 
the first graduates of the Institution under the old organiza- 
tion, was well aware that many imperfections in the system 
required remedying before anything like perfection could be 
attained. And having spent several years in France, care- 
fully examining and noting the course pursued in their mil- 
itary schools, he had acquired experience enough to adopt 
their most important features in place of the many imper- 
fections but too apparent in our own system. Having also 



CORNWALL AND MONROE, 589 

gained for himself distinction and honor by his services dur- 
ing the last war, he was well acquainted with the practical 
part of his profession. We thus find in him a combination of 
all the qualifications requisite for the station which he occu- 
pied. Educated, experienced and energetic — a better selec- 
tion could not have been made. In him were nicely bal- 
anced the refinement of the scholar, and the efficiency of the 
theoretical and practical soldier. The improvements which 
he introduced established the Academy on a firm basis, and 
gave it the high character it bears. Having faithfully and 
satisfactorily discharged the duties of his office for 16 years, 
he was relieved in 1833 to superintend the fortifications 
erecting in Boston harbor. Comparing the Institution as 
Col. Thayer found it, with what it was when he left it, we 
cannot but justly style him the father of the Military Acad- 
emy. 

The whole number of graduates from the establishment of 
the Institution to the present time, is 1330, of whom 630 are 
now in service. The condition of the Academy is at present 
very nourishing. It has in times past suffered much from 
prejudice and misrepresentation. Its enemies have been 
many, but they are growing less and less every year. It al- 
ways has had many strong friends, and their number is in- 
creasing in a rapid ratio. Its importance is now better ap- 
preciated by the country at large. The recent conduct of its 
graduates in the Mexican campaign has greatly enhanced 
its reputation, and raised it in the estimation of the nation. 
A grateful people are acknowledging their obligations, and 
are ready to pledge their cordial support to its claims. All 
now feel that the honor of the country is closely interwoven 
with that of its Military Academy." 

As connected with the Revolutionary history of the Point, 
we arc called upon to say something about Arnold and his 
treasonable attempt to place that post in possession of the 
enemy. This story has been written an hundred times, and 
we shall not repeat it further than to state the manner of his 
escape, as told by an eye witness and one of his own Barge- 
men, who rowed him to the Vulture, an English ship, then 
in the river below the Highlands, and which, as yet, is not 
found in the history of that transaction. Further than that, 
we have not space to gratify the leader. 

Arnold the Traitor. — Application was made this week in this town 
for assistance in making out the necessary documents for a pension by one 
of the bargemen in the barge that conveyed Gen. Arnold to the sloop of war 
Vulture. He was bow oarsman in the boat, next in rank to the coxswain. 



590 TOWNS OF &LO0MINGGR0VE, 

whose name was James Larvey. His memory is remarkably accurate, and 
his veracity is unquestionable. — He is a brother to Mr. James Collins, of 
(his town. The day before the flight of Arnold, lie brought him with Maj. 
Andre from Lawyer Smith's, below Stony Point, to the General's headquar- 
ters. They conversed very little during the passage. The General told his 
aid, who was at the landing when they arrived, that he had brought up a 
relation of his wife. Arnold kept one of his horses constantly caparisoned 
at the door of his quarters, and the next morning soon after breakfast he rode 
down in great haste with the coxswain just behind him on foot. The cox- 
swain cried out to the bargemen to come out from their quarters which 
were hard-by, and the General dashed down the footpath, instead of taking 
a circuit, the usual one for those who were mounted. The barge was soon 
made ready, though the General in his impatience repeatedly ordered the 
bow man to push off, before all the men had mustered. The saddle and hol- 
sters were taken on board the barge, and Arnold immediately alter they had 
pushed off, wiped the priming from the pistols, and primed anew, cocked 
and half cocked them repeatedly. He inquired of Collins if the men had 
their arms, and was told that the men came in such haste, that there were 
but two swords belonging to himself and the coxswain. They ought to 
have brought their arms he said. He tied a white handkerchief to the end 
of his cane for a flag in passing the forts. Oh arriving alongside of the Vul- 
ture he took it off and wiped his face. The General had been down in the 
cabin about an hour when the coxswain was sent for, and by the significant 
looks and laughing of the officers, the men in the barge began to be very 
apprehensive that all was not right. He very soon returned and told them 
that they were all prisoners of war. The bargemen were unmoved and sub- 
mitted, as to the fortune of war, except two Englishmen, who had deserted 
and who were much terrified and wept. 

The bargemen were piomised good fare if they would enter on board the 
Vulture, but they declined and were handcuffed, and so remained for four 
Jays. Gen. Arnold then sent for them at New York. In passing from the 
wharf to his headquarters the two Englishmen slipped aboard a letter of 
Marque, then nearly ready to sail. The others, five in number, waited on 
Arnold, who told them they had always been attentive and faithful, and he 
expected they would stay with him — he- had, he said, command of a regi- 
ment of horse, and Larvey you and Collins may have commissions, and the 
lest shall be non-commissioned officers. Larvey answered that he could 
not be contented — he had rather be a soldier, where he was- contented, than 
an officer where he was not. The others expressed or manifested their con- 
currence in Larvey's opinion. He then gave the coxswain a Guinea, am! 
told them they should be sent back. At night they were conveyed to the 
Vulture, and next day sent on shore. This worthy and intelligent applicant 
perfectly remembers Major Andre's dress, when they took him up in the 
barge, from Smith's house to Arnold's quarters — blue homspun stockings — ■ 
a pair of wrinkled boots, not lately brushed — blue cloth breeches, tied at 
the knee with strings — waist coat of the same — blue surtout buttoned by a 
single button — black silk handkerchief once round the neck and tied in 
front with the ends under the waist coat and a flapped hat. 

Plymouth Paper, July 18S5. 

Female Spy.— From Major Noah's " Old Men and Old Times in New 
York," we take the following extract : 

During the revolutionary war there was an extraordinary young lady, 
highly gifted and beautiful,, who made a great noise at that time, by the 
uame of Moncneff, and who subsequently wrote her. memoirs, which will be 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 591 

found in the City Library. While she was riding on horseback near our 
lines, with a servant, she was taken prisoner, ami brought to West Point, 
her father being a major in the British service, and a distinguished engineer. 
She was detained by Gen. Putnam as a prisoner. An American officer of 
any rank she said would be given for her. She commenced drawing flowers 
for her amusement, which were executed with great taste and skill, and pre- 
sented them to Gen. Putnam. She drew some also for her own purposes. 
In this manner her time was occupied for several days, promenading the 
walks wheresoever she thought proper. Col. Burr, aid to Putnam, was ab- 
sent during this period. On his return to camp, these specimens of the la- 
dy's taste and talent were shown to him. He requested the favor of be 
shown all that she had drawn for her own use. They were promptly pro- 
duced. After being entirely satisfied that he had them all in his possession. 
he remarked that they were so beautiful, and so admirably executed, that he 
could not part with them'. At or about this time the works at West Point 
had undergone great improvement and repairs, under thesuperintendance of 
a French engineer. On retiring from the presence of Miss Moncrierf, Col. 
Burr exhibited to Gen. Putnam and the other officers, who had paid no at- 
tention to the drawings, some faint lines under the flowers, which the lady 
had painted — that thc«e lines, when connected, was a complete draft of ail 
the works, as recently improved, and which she intended to bear off to the 
camp of the enemy. Her capture was premeditated. Miss Moncrieff was a 
regular spy in petticoats. She was sent down to New York, and staid at 
headquarters, at the corner of Broadway and the Battery ; but she was so 
close an observer of every thing going on, that the commanding general had 
to send her to her father, who was wit'h the British troops in New Jersey 

Major Andre and Revolutionary Poetry. — In July 
1780, Washington having received information that there 
were considerable numbers of cattle in Bergen Neck, in reach 
of the enemy,, detached Gen. Wayne to bring them off, and 
at the same time attack a Blockhouse which stood on the. 
Hudson half a mile below Bull's Ferry. It was on occasion 
of this expedition that Maj. Andre wrote the poem entitled 
the " Cow Chase," which was printed by Rivington, his 
Majesty's printer in New York. It was divided into three 
cantos, and it was said Andre gave the printer the last one, 
the day before he left New York, on the enterprise which 
cost him his life. It appeared in print the day he was taken. 
— the following are selections from it : 

To drive the kine one summer's morn,. 

The tanner took his way : 
The cult shall rue, that is unborn, 

The jirmblrng of that day. 

And Wayne's descending steers shall know 

And tauntingly deride, 
And call to mind in every low 

The tanning of his hide. 

Yet Bergen cows still ruminate 
Unconscious in the stall, 



592 TOWNS OF BLOOM1NGGROVE, 

What mighty means were used to get 
And loose them after all. 

For many heroes bold and brave, 
From Newbridge and Tapaan, 

And those that drink Passaick's wave, 
And those that eat soupaan. 

The sons of distant Delaware, 
And still remoter Shannon, 

And Major Lee, with horses rare, 
And Proctor with his cannon. 

I under cover of the attack, 
While you were all at blows, 

Prom English Neighborhood and Tena 
We'll drive away the cows. 

At Irvine's nod, 'twas fine to see, 
The left prepare to fight ; 

And while the drovers, Wayne and Lee, 
Drew off upon the right. 

Sublime upon his stirrups rose, 

The mighty Lee behind, 
And drove the terror smitten cows, 

Like chaff before the wind. 

But sudden see the woods above, 
Pour forth another corps, 

All helter-skelter in a drove, 
Like that I sung before. 

Irvine and terror in the van, 

Came flying all abroad ; 
And cannon, colors, horse and mail) 

Ran tumbling to the road. 

In his dismay, the frantic priest, 

Began to grow prophetic ; • t'< 
You'd swore to see his panting breast- 
He'd taken an emetic. 

This solemn prophecy of course, 
Gave all much consolation, 

Except to Wayne, who lost his horse, 
Upon the great occasion. 

The horse which carried all his prog, 

His military speeches, 
> a cornstalk whiskey for his grog, 

Blue stockings and brown breeches. 

And now I've closed my epic strain, 

I tremble as I show it, 
[ est this same warrior-drover, Wayne,' 

Should ever catch the poet. 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 59JJ 

The last verse was really ominous of the poet's fate, for he 
wa9 caught and executed as a spy, as our readers know, 
though every honorable exertion was made to save the gal- 
lant officer, not only by the English, but by Americans. 

In connection with this Revolutionary poetry, written in 
mere sport, but ending in tragic truth, we associate the like 
sportive origin of Yankee Doodle, our National March, un- 
der which many a red coat during the wars of 1776 and 1812, 
bit the dust in death. 

Interesting History. — It is known as a matter of history, that in the 
early part of 1755, great exertions were made by the British ministry at the 
head of which was the illustrious earl of Chatham, for the reduction of the 
French power in the provinces of the Canadas. To carry the object into 
effect General Amherst, referred to in the letters of Junius, was appointed to 
the command of the British army in North Western America ; and the Brit- 
ish colonies in America were called upon for assistance, who contributed 
with alacrity their several quotas of men to effect the grand object of British 
enterprise. It is a fact still within the recollection of some of our oldest in- 
habitants, that the British army lay encamped in the summer of 1755 on the 
eastern bank of the Hudson, a little south of the city of Albany, on the 
ground now belonging to John I. Van Rensselaer, Esq. To this day ves- 
tiges of their encampment remain ; and after a lapse of sixty years, when a 
great portion of the actors of those days, have passed away like shadows 
from the earth, the inquisitive traveller can observe the remains of the ash- 
es, the places where they boiled their camp kettles. It was this army that 
under the command of Abercrombie was foiled with a severe loss in the at- 
tack on Ticonderoga, where the distinguished Howe fell at the head of his 
troops, in an hour that history has consecrated to his fame. In the early 
part of June, the eastern troops began to pour in, company alter company, 
and such a motiy assemblage of men never before thronged together on such 
an occasion, unless an example may be found in the ragged regiment of Sir 
John Falstaff, of right merry and facetious memory. It would, said my 
worthy ancestor who relates to me the story, have relaxed the gravity of an 
anchorite to have seen the descendents of the Puritans, marching through 
the streets of our ancient c.y, to take their station on the left of the British 
army — some with long coats, some with short coats, and others with no 
coats at all, in colors as varied us the rainbow, — some with their hair crop- 
ped like the army of Cromwell, and others with wigs whose curls flowed 
with grace around their shoulders. Their march, their accoutrements, and 
the whole arrangement of the troops furnished matter of amusement to the 
wits of the British army. The music played the airs of two centuries ago, 
and the tout ensemble upon the whole exhibited a sight to the wondering- 
strangers that they had been unaccustomed to in their native land. Among 
the club of wits that belonged to the British army, there was a physician at- 
tached to the staff by the name of Shackburg, who combined with the sci- 
ence of the surgeon, the skill and talents of a musician. To please brother 
Jonathan he composed a tune, and with much gravity recommended it to the 
officers, as one of the most celebrated airs of martial music. The joke took 
to the no small amusement of the British Corps. Brother Jonathan exclaim- 
ed, it was nation fine and in -a few days nothing was heard in the provincial 
tamp but trie air of Yankee Docdle. — Little did the author or his coadjutors 
then Buppose that an air made for the purpose of levity and ridicu'e, should 

•-L 



594 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGRQVE, 

ever be marked for such high destinies, in twenty years from that lime our 
national march inspired the hearts of the heroes of Bunker Hill, and in less 
than thirty, Lord Cornwallis and his army marched into the American lines 
to the tune of Yankee Doodle. — N. Y. Statcsvmn, Aug. 1820. 

JtfWJMEKT of Court in case of Major Andre. — "In 17S0 Major 
An>"re was taken as a spy and tried by a Court Martial consisting of 14 of 
the most eminent American officers, of whom Gen. Greene was President. — 
After a thorough investigation, the result of the trial was that the accusa- 
tion of Major Andre by the unanimous opinion of the Court, was adjudged 
to be just. They reported, "that Major Andre, Adjutant General to the 
British army, ought to be considered as a spy from the enemy — that he came 
on shore from the Vulture sloop of war in the night of the 21st of Sept. oil 
an interview with Genera! Arnold in a private and secret manner — that he 
changed his dress within our lines, and under a feigned name and in a dis- 
guised habit, passed our works at Stony and Verplank's Points — that he 
was taken in a disguised habit on his way to New York — that he had in 
his possession several papers which contained intelligence for the enemy, 
and that agreeable to the laws and usages of nations, it is their opinion he 
ought to suffer death " 

This case excited the commiseration of the American ar- 
my, and extraordinary efforts were made by the British com- 
i nder to prevent his execution, but the crime was of that 
nature which admitted of no paliative or commutation, and 
Lis {[-.Ac was sealed. 

OBSTUCTIONS IN HUDSON'S RIVER. 

r hough great confusion and uncertainty prevail as to the 
nature, number, and locality of the various obstructions pla- 
ced in the Hudson during the war of the Revolution, yet 
from what we have been- able to glean up from aged men, 
and from the proceedings of the Committee of Safety and of 
the Continental Congress, we conclude there were at least 
four. 

One was at Fort Was-hington^ below the highlands, in 
Westchester county ; but the exact nature and extent of it 
we have not been able to learn, as the records of that time 
furnish no reliable information. We believe it was a che- 
vaux-de-frize in part, made by sinking cribs of timber acro.v> 
the channel, with the addition of old boats and sloops, moor- 
ed so as to obstruct the navigation. This amounted to noth- 
ing, for it did not prevent the English from ascending the 
niver. 

The second one was at Fort Montgomery, and was a chain 
supported by a frame-work of timbers to support and float it. 
V seems that this broke shortly after being built, and having 
been mended it broke again, and the Committee did. 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 595 

know what to do, when the following proceedings took place, 
a* appear? from their Journals 

Nov. 30., 1776. "In perfecting the obstruction between St. Anthony'^ 
Nose on the eastern shore and Fort Montgomery, we endeavored to avail 
ourselves of the model of that which had proved effectual in the river Dela- 
ware, and were assisted by the advice and experience of Capt. Hazelwood, 
but the great length of the chain being upwards of 1800 feet, the bulk of the 
logs which were necessary to support it, the immense weight of water 
which it accumulated and the rapidity of the tide, have baffled all our efforts ; 
it separated twice aftei holding only a few hours." 

" Mr. Machen, the Engineer at Fort Montgomery,. is of opinion, that with 
proper alterations it may still be of service in another part of the river, and 
we have, with Gen. Heath's concurrence, directed him to make the trial. — 
But we have too much reason to despair of its ever fully answering the iin> 
portant purpose for which it was constructed. A like disappointment we 
are informed happened at Portsmouth, &c." 

Again on the 1st Dec, 177(3, " The disappointment of two attempts to ob- 
struct the river, at Forts Washington and Montgomery, increases our anx- 
iety for the success of the present effort, &c." 

The chain at Fort Montgomery, or chevaux-de-frize as 
Gen. Clinton called itymust have been re-mended and made 
secure, for it was there in good order, in October 1777, when 
the forts were taken by the English ; for they broke it by the 
force of their ships, proceeding up the river to burn Esopus. 

When this chain broke after being put up as- previously 
stated, the Congress refused to pay for it until the smiths who 
made it should be examined as to the nature and quality of 
the iron out of which it was made. Gordon in his Gazeteer 
says the chain was made of iron 2 or 2^ inches thick, weigh- 
ed fifty tons, and cost' £50,000, Continental money. If it wa^ 
1,800 feet long, and made of that thickness of iron it must 
have weighed three times as much as he states it at. The 
one at West Point weighed 186 tons and was not so long. 

The third obstruction was at West Point, and, as we have 
previously mentioned it, we only remark, here, that Capt. 
Machen was the Engineer who superintended the construc- 
tion of the frame-work which supported it, and directed its 
extension across the river. This was the same Capt. Mach- 
en who located at the Big Pond, or Orange Eake,.in New- 
burgh, after the war,, and mentioned in that town., 

A fourth obstructian was at PallopePs Island, extending 
towards Plum Pointy at the mouth of Murderer's Creek. On 
the Journals of the Committee ofiSafety it is thus spoken of - 

Nov. 30, 1776, "Mr. Livingston further informed the convention that he 
had conferred with Major General Heath and Brigadier General Clinton 
about obstructing Hudson's River at Follepel's Island, (at which conference 
Mr. Machen assisted,) and that it appeared to them to be extremely practi-- 



596 TOWNS OK ELOOMINGGROVE, 

cable, and that he had the pleasure of assuring the convention that both 
Generals seemed strongly impressed with a sense of the impoitance of that 
work,&c. 

" That he had conferred with Mr. Machen about the chain, and that ht 
had reason to believe that with proper alterations it might still be made very 
useful ; that he had therefore taken the liberty to direct him to make the 
necessary alterations in the mode of fixing the same and removing it to any 
situation where it can be most advantageously placed ; of which measure if 
the convention approve, he begs some resolution to justify his proceedings " 

Mr. Livingston then offered some resolutions which were agreed to as 
follows: 

" Resolved, 4. That Mr. Gilbert Livingston cause the spars and timber 
purchased by the recent committee to be immediately rafted to New Wind- 
sor, and delivered to Gen. Clinton, &c. 

" Resolved, 5. That Gilbert Livingston, Esq. be empowered to cause 
three tons of iron of an inch and a half and one inch and three quarters 
thick, being an equal quantity of each, or such other quantities and sizes as 
Gen. Clinton may direct, to be delivered at New Windsor." 

This was executed, and the chevaux-de-frize extended a- 
oross the channel of the river, from the Island to the western 
shore. The iron for this work was made at the forge of Mr. 
Jonas Williams, in Cornwall, the father of Mr. Samuel 
Williams, of Newburgh, out of ore brought from the Forest 
of Dean in Monroe. This work was never wholly removed 
by the government, but went down by the action of the wa- 
ter, time, and force of navigation. Many of the timber cribs 
with their iron still no doubt remain submerged in the river, 
for pieces of the iron which composed it have been frequent- 
ly raised and hooked up by the anchors of sloops navigating 
the Hudson. We have heard that some of the straps and o- 
ther iron work of the steamboat Albany were made of the 
iron of this chevaux-de-frize, dragged up in this way, and 
that it proved very firm and tough. 

Near the mouth of Murderer's Creek, on the north side, on 
the farm of Mr. Philip A. Verplanck, in New Windsor, dur- 
ing the Revolution there was a breast work and battery of 
14 guns. We have personally examined it within a few- 
days, and found it in such preservation — being in a location 
to be undisturbed by agricultural improvements — that with 
the least possible repair it would be fitted for immediate use. 
The bank at this place is US feet above the river, and faces 
almost directly against Pallopel's Island, and along it, in the 
direction of the river, and about 40 feet above it, a wide road 
was excavated leading down to the river at the south. The 
materials removed, made the breast-work, which at intervals 
of every 25 feet is pierced for heavy ordinance. In front and 
below, about 10 feet distant, is a ditch several feet in depth 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 597 

Hid width, of the same extent of the breast-work. The 
piercings as they run north are inclined to the south, so as to 
bear directly upon the obstruction, to guard which this bat- 
tery was erected. The camp lire places, well and magazine 
are all there. The floor of the magazine was paved with 
brick of a large size and fine material, some of which are still 
in place. A butternut tree 14 inches in diameter is now 
growing on the lloor, and indeed the whole of those old pat- 
riot defences arc overgrown with forest trees. We do not 
believe there is a work of the kind in the union, unrepaired, 
in such a capital state of preservation. The lapse of 70 years 
has left it comparatively untouched. 

Committee of Safety for Cornwall in 1775, were — Heze- 
kiali Howell, Archibald Little, Elihu Marvin, Nathaniel 
Satterly, Nathaniel Strong, Jonathan Brooks, Stephen Gil- 
bert, Zachariah Dubois, Thomas Moffatt. 

Fori Putnam — A fortification erected during the war of the 
Revolution, in 1782, and named after Gen. Putnam, of the 
American army, as brave a man as ever drew a sword or 
perished in battle. It stands adjoining and directly west of 
the Point, on an eminence 561 feet above the river. In a 
military point of view it commands the Point and river thro' 
the highlands. It is now dismantled, and since the peace of 
17S3, has been permitted to fall into ruins. We shall be hap- 
py as individuals and fortunate in a national point, of view, 
if never compelled to renovate its grey and time-worn battle- 
ments. 

The Crouds Nest — A high peak in the highlands just be- 
low the Point, and so called from being frequented by that, 
bird. It is 1,41S feet high, above the river. 

Bare .Mountain — Another peak in the highlands, and had 
its name from its bald crest. It is 1,350 feet high, above the 
river. 

Cornwall Landing. — This is the place of doing foreign busi- 
ness on the river, in the eastern part of the town, above But- 
ter Hill, and the only landing in the town of Cornwall. — 
Isaac Van Duzer and Daniel Tobias first did business at this 
place. Tobias had a sloop and Van Duzer was a merchant, 
some 40 or 50 years since. 

Butter Hill — An elevated peak at the northern termination 
of the highlands at the southern entrance of the Newburgh 
bay. It is 1,432 feet high. It has been known by this name 
a great many years, but we have not been so fortunate in 
our researches and inquiries as to discover the reason of the 
odd appellation. If 'we are permitted to speculate, and in* 



598 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE. 

very doubtful cases we believe it is legitimate to do so, we 
would suggest, that it originated in a fanciful method to ex- 
press a fact, to wit: the large quantity of butter that was then 
being made in the county — figuratively in masses large as 
mountains. And here we might remark, as a well-earned 
tribute of praise to the skill and honest industry of Orange 
county house- wives, that what was metaphorical at that early 
day, has been rendered almost literally true in our time. — 
At present the quantity made is less than heretofore, and will 
diminish from year to year. 

PallopePs Island — This is a small Island in the southern 
part of Newburgh bay, and sometimes written Pallopel. It 
is difficult to determine the true etymology of the name, and 
as it is generally supposed to be of Dutch origin, we are 
bound to find it in that direction if we can. With this view 
we submitted the point to a gentleman of some attainment? 
in that language and who had other reliable resources at 
command, and we now submit the following as the result of 
his investigation : 

" This is supposed to be Dutch, but after some little ex- 
amination we incline to the opinion that it is either a proper 
name or a corruption of Polypus — [Plant ce Decotyledones Pol- 
ypetalce] — the common name of the Prickly Pear of the Cac- 
tus family of leafless plants, which grows abundantly on the 
Island. If however it must be Dutch, there are two words 
from which it may be derived. 1. Poltepel — which means 
colander or strainer, probably containing an allusion to the 
joncave form of the surface of the Island. 2. Pallapel — from 
pal, an adjective, meaning firm, ox fixed, and lapel, a spoon." 

We tender our thanks to this gentleman for his endeavors 
to help us out of our difficulty in this particular crisis ; and 
although he is inclined to disown the German origin of the 
name, we are inclined to adopt that source as furnishing the 
true etymology of the word. At least, the Court being in 
loubt and divided in opinion, it is a fair case to be submitted 
to the Committee, to the propriety of appointing which we 
have previously alluded. The public, in the meantime, we 
nust will take no efficient measures to prevent or counteract 
the laudable intentions of the Association. The absence of 
all tradition relating to this name increases the difficulty of 
solving the meaning and origin of the appellation. 

Canterbury. — From Canterbury, England, in the county 
of Kent. That is a very old city, and the Durwenuim of 
the Romans. It is situate on the river Stour, and isthe Arch- 
iepiscopal See of the primate of all England. The Archbish- 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 599 

op of York is primate of England. When Ctesar invaded 
England, what is now the county of Kent, was then inhab- 
ited by the Cantii, who were supposed to be a Roman Colo- 
ny. At this time England was divided into four Principali- 
ties, and Kent was situated in Britania prima. 

The etymology of the word Canterbury, we make to be 
this: The first half of the word Canter is from Cantii, the 
name of the people who inhabited the county at the time of 
the conquest, and gave name to the county which was called 
Cantia. The residue of the word Awry, is from the Saxon, 
burg — toicn or borough. 

The true interpretation of the word according to this ety- 
mology, is the town or borough, or place of residence of the 
Cantii. Cantiani in Latin means Kcntishmen, whom Ccesar 
says were the most courteous of all the Britains. The fact 
that they were supposed to be a Roman Colony may account 
in part for the noble compliment. 

The etymology of this word caused us some trouble, with 
which however we are satisfied. The whole is natural, and 
so probable from the facts of the case, found in veritable ! 
t.ory of the time and place, that we admit its truth with 
impeachment or doubt. 

But we cannot be very certain about these matters, for 
there is another derivation of the name of Canterbury which 
we find in the books, which some may think still more pro- 
bable than the one here put forth by the writer, and injustice 
to oui paper and that ancient and celebrated city, we give it. 

The county of Kent, in England, is said to be the only 
one, which retains its Celtic name, all the rest are Saxon. — 
Kent was the first state formed by the Saxons, which after- 
wards composed the Heptarchy. It was formed by their cel- 
ebrated Chief Hengist. The Celtic term of Kent is Kern, ind 
means head or termination, a kind of headland pointing east 
towards the Continent. If to Kean we add bury, we have 
Keanbury, the headburgh or town of Kent — so that C bury 

is the easy corruption of Kean-burg. 

With great respect both etymologies are submitted tothe 
critical judgment of the association, and while both have ve- 
ry probable and respectable claims upon our belief, we in- 
cline to adopt the one first given. But suppose we inquire 
whence comes the name of Cantii or Cantia, in the first ex- 
planation. Suppose we answer that Cantii is the Latinised 
form of expressing the name of the inhabitants of the Kean or 
headland, and Cantia the like form of expressing the Kean or 
headland itself; for it mustb^ recollected that the Cantii were 



600 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

reported to have been a Roman Colony, and consequently 
earned their language with them. This answer we think 

annot well be objected to upon the principles of deriving or 
explaining names. Both explanations therefore are refera- 
ble to the Celtic term Kean, a head or termination, as the true, 
probable source of the name. We have now drained quite. 
dry our fountain of historical knowledge, and exhausted all - 
our rational speculation upon the point, and we leave it pret- 
ty much where we found it, covered up by the darkness of 
2 and uncertain tradition. While we have been amused 
!<y the somewhat devious tracery of this word, and probably 
found the true etymology, still the game may not be worth 
the pursuit and killing, in the judgment of the association, 
but in this, as in many more important matters, we have had 
the labor for our pains. 

Pork Hill. — This is just east of the late residence of John 
Smith, deceased, and so named from the fact that a load of 
pork belonging to the army during the Revolution was upset 
there. 

Bethlehem — A small district of country in the north west 
part of the town, on the public road leading from New Wind- 
to Goshen, and about 5 miles south west from that vil- 
lage.. The district received its name from the Presbyterian 
meeting-house, situated there, called Bethlehem meeting- 
house. The name is from the Scriptures, and with which 
are associated all the hopes of the christian for future and e- 
ternal happiness. 

There are very few Streams in this town, and what there 
are, arc small and insignificant. The Ponds are quite num- 
erous and of small extent. Round Pond, Long Pond, Bog- 
meadow Pond, Cranberry Pond, Bull's Pond, and Poplopcn's 
Pond are the largest, and generally used as reservoirs when 
water is scarce, the names of which sufficiently explain their 
origin and meaning. 

Poplopen's Pond. — This Pond now covers 300 acres. It has 
been dammed up to increase the reservoir of the Fort Mont- 
g< roery Mills, and the water is from 25 to 30 feet deep. It 
is on the line between Cornwall and Monroe, and lately gain- 
id an unenviable notoriety by the following incident: On 
the 14th of August 1S46, there was a party of young people 
on the pond, in a boat, when the wind blew the cap of Mr. 
Harvey Adams off his head into the water. Peter Seaman, 
another of the company, proposed to Adams to jump into the 
water and get it, but Adams declined and said they would 
i \v the boat to it and pick it up. They continued to banter 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 601 

each other for a while, when both concluded to go into the 
pond. Mr. Seaman deliberately gave his watch to one young 
lady to hold, and his segar box to another, etc., and then 
jumped over : In doing which he slipped against the side of 
the boat and fell on his face into the water, and as was sup- 
posed, injured himself and was drowned. He was an expert, 
swimmer. Mr. Adams came out safe. Mr. Seaman was the 
son of Samuel T. Seaman, Esq. The melancholy accident, 
so sudden and unexpected, threw a gloom over the youthful 
party, and overwhelmed dear friends and relations. How 
true it is ! " While in life we are in death-" The body was 
found, after great exertions, on the 17th, and committed to 
the grave. 

Murderer'' s Creek. — As before remarked, the western por- 
tion of this stream is called the Otter Kill. It forms the 
boundary line, at its mouth, between the towns of New- 
Windsor and Cornwall. It has been long known by its pre- 
sent name. At the original erection of Orange County, in 
16S3, it was called Murderer's or Martler's Creek. When 
the county was re-organized in 1688, the name of Martlet's 
was left out, and Murderer's alone retained, in giving the 
boundaries. In a patent as early as 1694 this creek is called 
by its present name. Tradition says, at an early period of 
the settlement of this part of the county, there was a bloody 
incident, which accounts for the unpleasant and fearful name 
of this creek. 

The tradition is as follows, as we find the same in tin 
school books, and written out by Paulding and published in 
1828. The book is the " Introduction to the National Rea- 
der," and published in Boston. 

We do not know the source or authority whence Mr. Paul- 
ding drew his narrative, but as he has related it with great 
particularity, and the general facts are correspondent with 
the popular outline of the tradition, the same may be as near 
the truth as we can ev.er be able to arrive at, at this late pe- 
riod. 

The story is beautifully told, and we give it entire, lest we 
injure it by a new recital of the facts : 

Little more than a century ago, the beautiful region watered by this stream 
was possessed by a small tribe of Indians, which has long since become ex- 
tinct, or incorporated with some other savage nation of the west. Three or 
four hundred yards from where the stream discharges itself in the Hudson, 
a white family, of the name of Stacy, had established itself in a log house, by 
tacit permission of the tribe, to whom Stacy had made himself useful by a 
variety of little arts, highly estimated by the savages, fn particular, a friend- 
ship subsisted between him and an old Indian, called Naoman, who often 



602 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGHOVE, 

came to his house, and partook of his hospitality. The Indians never forgive 
injuries, nor forget benefits. The family consisted ol Stacy, his wife, and 
two children, a boy and a'girl, the former five, the latter three, years old. 

One day, Naoman came to Stacy's log hut, in his absence, lighted a pipe, 
and sat down. He looked very serious, sometimes sighed very deeply, but 
said not a word. Stacy's wife asked him what was the matter — if he was 
sick. He shook his head, sighed, but said nothing, and soon went away. 
The next day he came again, and behaved in the same manner. Stacy's 
wife be?an to think strange of this, and related it to her husband, who ad- 
vised her to urge the old man to an explanation, the next time he came. Ac- 
cordingly, when he repeated his visit, the day after, she was more importu- 
nate than usual. At last the old Indian said, " I am a red man, and the pale 
faces are our enemies : why should I speak ?" " But my husband and I are 
your friends : you have eaten salt with us a hundred times, and my children 
have sat on your knees as often. If you have any thing on your mind, tell 
it me." " It will cost me my life if it is known, and the white-faced women 
are not good at keeping secrets," replied Naoman- " Try me and see." " Will 
you swear, by your Great Spirit, that you will tell none but your husband.'* 
•• ! have none else to tell." " But will you swear ?" " I do swear, by our 
Great Spirit, I will tell none but my husband." " Not if my tribe should kill 
you for not telling ?•' " Not if your tribe should kill me ior not telling." 

Naoman then proceeded to tell her, that, owing to some encroachments of 
'.he white people below the mountains, his tribe had become irritated, and 
were resolved, that night, to massacre all the white settlers in their reach ; 
that she must send fof her husband, inform him of the danger, and as spee- 
dily and secretly as possible, take their canoe, and paddle with all haste over 
the river to Fishkill for safety. " Be quick, and do nothing that may excite 
suspicion," said Naoman, as he departed. The good wife sought her hus- 
band, who was on the river fishing, told him the story, and, as no time was 
to be lost, they proceeded to their boat, which was unluckily filled with 
water. It took some time to clean it out, and meanwhile, Stacy recollected 
his gun, which had been left behind. He proceeded to the house, and re- 
turned with it. All this took up considerable time, and precious time it 
proved to this poor family The daily visits of old Naoman, and his more 
than ordinary gravity, had excited suspicion in some of the tribe, who had, 
ccbrdingly, paid particular attention to the movements of Stacy. One of 
the young Indians, who had been kept on the watch, seeing the whole family 
about to take to the boat, ran to the little Indian village about a mile off', and 
^ave the alarm. Five Indians collected, ran down to the river, where their 
canoes were moored, jumped in and paddled after Stacy, who, by this time, 
had got some distance out in the stream. They gained on him so fast, that 
twice he dropped his paddle and took up his gun. But his wife prevented 
his shooting, by telliug him that, if he fired, and they were afterwards over- 
taken, they would meet with no mercy from the Indians. He accordingly 
refrained, and plied his paddle till the sweat rolled in big drops from his fore- 
head. All would not do : they were overtaken within a hundred yards from 
the shore, and carried back, with shouts of yelling and triumph. 

When they got ashore, the Indians set fire to Stacy's house, and dragged 
himself, his wife and children to their village. Here the principal old men, 
and Naoman among them assembled to deliberate on the affair. The chief 
men of the council stated, that some one of the tribe had, undoubtedly, been 
guilty of treason, in apprizing Stacy, the white man, of the designs of the 
tribe, whereby they took the alarm, and well nigh escaped. He proposed to 
examine the prisoners, to learn who gave the information. The old men 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 603 

assented to this, and Naoman among the rest. Stacy was first interrogated 
by one cf the old men, who spoke English and interpreted it to the others. 
Stacy refused to betray his informant. His wife was then questioned, while 
at the 6ame moment, two Indians stood threatening the two children with 
tomahawks, in case she did not confess. She attempted to evade the truth, 
by declaring she had a dream the night before, which alarmed her, and that 
she had persuaded her hnsband to fly. " The Great Spirit never deigns to 
talk in dreams to a white face," said the old Indian. " Woman, thou hast 
two tongues and two faces. Speak the truth, or thy children shall surely die.'* 
The little boy and girl were then brought close to her, and the two savage? 
stood over them, ready to execute his bloody orders. 

" Wilt thou name," said the old Indian, " the red man who betrayed his; 
tribe? I will ask three times." The mother answered not. "Wilt thou 
name the traitor ? This is the second time." The poor mother looked at her 
husband, and then at her children, and stole a glance at Naoman, who sat 
smoking his pipe with invincible gravity. She wrung her hands, and wept, 
but remained silent. " Wilt thou name the traitor ? 'Tis the third and last 
time." The agony of the mother waxed more bitter : again she sought the 
eye of Naoman, but it was cold and motionless. The pause of a moment 
awaited her reply, and the tomahawks were raised over the heads of the 
children, who besought their mother not to let them be murdered. 

" Stop !" cried Naoman. All eyes were turned upon him. "Stop!" re- 
peated he, in a tone of authority. " White woman, thou hast kept thy word 
with me to the last moment. I am the traitor. I have eaten of the salt. 
warmed myself at the fire, shared the kindness of these Christian white 
pie, and it was I that told them of their danger. 1 am a withered, leafless, 
branchless trunk: cut me down, if you will; 1 am ready." A yell of in- 
dignation sounded on all sides Naoman descended from the little hank 
where he sat, shrouded his face with his mantle of skins and submittt 1 I 
his fate. He fell dead at the feet of the white woman by a blow of the 
tomahawk. 

But the sacrifice of Naoman, and the firmness of the Christian white wo- 
man, did not suffice to save the lives of the other victims. They perished — 
how, it is needless to say ; and the memory of their fate has been preserved 
in the name of the pleasant stream, on whose banks they lived and died, 
which, to this day, is called Murderer's Creek. 

If we were disposed to question any part of the story, it 
would be the part relating- to the name of the white man, 
Stacy- This we think is an error, and ought to have been 
Martelair. In the earliest mention of the name of this creek, 
as before remarked, it is called Murderer's or Martler's 
creek. We know of no reason why it should be called Mau- 
ler's, unless it was, that that was the name of the white fam- 
ily which was murdered on this occasion ; in which case, it 
was very natural to associate his name with the stream. We 
never heard, and enquiry has been made of many persons, 
that the white family was named Stacy. Mr. Paulding does 
not give the least intimation, where he obtained the materials 
of the tradition; if he had, we might have been better able 
to judge of its truth in all its parts. As it is, we question the 
truth of the tradition in the particular above mentioned. 



604 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

The rock opposite West Point, on lands that belonged to 
Mrs. Ogilvie and children, which was fortified in part by the 
Americans in 1775, was then called " Martelair's Rock Is- 
land." May not this name have had some connection with 
the murder 1 

Sloop Hill. — There is a tradition in this town that shortly 
after the event took place which g-ave name to Murderer's 
Creek, the following event occurred which named this hill. 
A Spanish sloop came to the mouth of this creek ladened 
with rum and other articles to trade with the Indians, and 
getting aground, the Indians set upon the crew and murder- 
ed the whole. This hill is near the residence of Mr. Nathan- 
iel Sands, and overlooks the scene of murder. It has long 
been known by this name, and probably had its origin in 
an accident of some kind. 

BETHLEHEM CHURCH. 

The congregation of Bethlehem embraces a part of three 
towns — Cornwall, New Windsor, and Bloominggrove. The 
church edifice stands within the bounds of the first named. 
This is the oldest Presbyterian congregation that was organ- 
ized north of the highlands and west of the Hudson river, 
except Goshen, which was organized in 1721. Their first 
house of worship was erected about the year 1730. 

For a considerable time they did not enjoy the advantages 
of a stated ministry ; but were dependent upon such occas- 
ional services as they could obtain. The name of the first 
minister who resided and labored constantly among them, 
was Chalker. His successor was the Rev. Enos Ayres — whose 
name is found in the catalogue of the first class graduated 
from the college of New Jersey, then at Newark; but, since, 
removed to Princeton. Mr. Ayres must have continued his 
ministry down to about the years 1762 or 1764 — though we 
cannot say for how long a time. He was succeeded by a 
gentleman from Scotland, by the name of Pepper ; but whe- 
ther immediately, or after an interval, we are not informed. 
During his ministry, the congregation of New Windsor came 
into existence, and was associated with Bethlehem, Mr. Pep- 
per supplying both pulpits. These three gentlemen all en- 
joyed the reputation of being pious, orthodox, and successful 
ministers of the gospel. 

The next stated preacher was the Rev. Mr. Close. His 
ministry, we are informed, continued through 14 years — em- 
bracing the period of the Revolutionary war. The influence 



CORNWALL AND MONKOK. 

A the war upon the state of religion was disastrous in the ex- 
treme. The army was encamped within a few miles, and 
the vices of the camp, and the infidelity of many of the offi- 
cers, spread far and wide, and the effects were long- and sore- 
ly felt. 

After Mr. Close had retired, the pulpit was occupied by the 
Rev. Mr. Freeman, a learned and eloquent man, who remo- 
ved hence to the state of New Jersey. He was succeeded by 
the Rev. Joel T. Benedict. Mr. B. was a man of ardent pi^ 
ety, untiring zeal, and an eloquence which drew continually 
crowds to listen to his preaching. 

The Rev. Henry Ford — a man of estimable character — fol- 
lowed Mr. Benedict ; and was, in turn, followed by the Rev. 
Artemas Dean : who commenced his ministry in Dec. 1813, 
and continued it till April 1842. 

' During Mr. Dean's pastorate, the old church, after stand- 
ing nearly a century, was replaced by the present edifice in 
1828. 

Mr. D. was succeeded by the Rev. J. B. Hubbard, who 
continued to occupy the pulpit till April 1S46. Since the last 
named date, there has been no settled pastor ; — but the pul- 
pit has been temporarily supplied, since the first of June 3 S46 
by the Rev. John N. Lewis, to whom we are indebted for 
this history of the Church. 

Jonas Williams. — This gentleman was of English origin., 
♦whose ancestor came to this country as early as in the reign 
of one of the Charles'. Being a dissenter, he could not sub- 
mit to the stringent and unchristian regulations imposed up- 
on him, and he, like a thousand others, left the land of his 
nativity for conscience sake. 

Mr. Williams came to this town from Long Island, in a- 
bout 1775, at the commencement of the Colonial troubles, 
then being about twenty-one years old. At the time, the 
English were taking military possession of the Island, and 
the place was getting too hot and uncomfortable for many of 
the young Whigs, and 40 of them left at the same time. — 
Williams came to this town and the others located at differ- 
ent places. In 1779 he married Miss Abigail Brewster, 
daughter of Samuel Brewster, Esq., of this town, who owned 
a forge on Murderer's Creek. The estate is now owned by 
Mr. Peter Roe. Mr. Williams shortly after the war became 
the owner of the estate, and for many years prosecuted the 
manufacture of iron, with great vigor and success. The forge 
contained four fires and had an anchory attached. 



606 TOWNS OF BLOOMINGGROVE, 

* 

The bar iron used in constructing the chevaux-de-fnze 
from Pallopel's Island to Plum Point, in 1777, under the di- 
rection of Gen. Clinton, was made at this forge. When Mr. 
Williams first conducted this establishment, the ore was 
transported from the Forest of Dean, in Monroe, in packs, on 
the hacks of horses, there being - no wagon roads in the moun- 
tains, at the time. These works were situated in a narrow 
valley, shut in by high hillte,. and when lit up at night, the 
effect was said to have beea grand and beautiful,. as they il- 
lumined the vale and the elevated hills around with the 
bright glare of the mid-day sun. 

When the army was stationed at Morristown, N. J., before 
coming to Newburgh, Mr. Williams had a contract to sup- 
ply a part of it with provisions, and though its execution 
was accompanied with great trouble and hazard, the avenues 
of transportation being infested in all directions by robbers, 
cow-boys, and tories ; still he executed the contract to the 
satisfaction of the government and without much loss to him- 
self, from pillage and robbery. 

. The money which the French government furnished to this 
country, to assist in carrying on the war, was landed at New 
Haven, or some Eastern port, and from there transported to 
different points in the country where it was wanted to pay 
the army. A portion of that money was sent out here under 
a guard from New Haven across the country, of whom Mr. 
Isaac Belknap, afterwards of this town, was one, and paid 
out by Mr. Williams, or the house with which he was con- 
nected. 

From the story we have told about the name of Murderer's 
Creek, it is to be inferredl that, at that time, the creek was 
boatable, and the water of considerable depth y and we are 
now told that Mr. Williams built and launched an ordinary 
sized sloop more than haJf a century since, just below the 
present toll bridge across the stream. The bed of the creek 
from the bridge d'own to its mouth, must have filled up very 
considerably since the settlement of the county, if not within 
the last 50 or 60 years, for at present it is not boatable for the 
smallest craft, except at high' water in the river or during a 
freshet in the stream. 

Mr. Williams was an industrious and enterprising man 
till age and infirmity deprived him of strength and activity. 
He died in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, of which he 
had been a member for many years, in Feb. 1827, aged 73. 

His children were, Polly, .Anna Brewster, John, Elizabt' h, 
Sarah Hellen, Richard and Samuel.. 



CORNWALL AND MONROE. 607 

1&05, June f. Mr. William Miller, of this- town, fell off his wagon, re- 
turning home, and dislocated his neok. He left a wife and large family to 
lament his fate. 'He was a kind father and good husband. 

June 6. In May a den of bears was discovered in the rocks of the moun- 
tains about Buttermilk Falls, and twenty of the neighbors met to attack them. 
The hole of the den was about 2 feet high and 13 inches wide. They en- 
deavored to send in their best dogs to force them out, but the bears frightened 
them back. Mr. Bury, contrary to 'the entreaties of his neighbors, concluded 
to enter himself. He accordingly entered the hole with a weapon of defence, 
and a rope, after having secured a retreat, by tying poles together, one end 
of which was fastened to his leg, the other left in the hands of friends with 
orders to pull him out should his situation become dangerous. Fearless and 
undaunted, our hero entered the gloomy cell, and proceeded until he came to 
the hind parts of a huge bear, whose size could not permit her to turn on 
him. Mr. Bury availed himself of the fortunate circumstance by fastening 
his rope to her legs. Upon his giving the signal, they were drawn to the 
mouth of the cavern, and the bear was shot. He entered again and brought 
out four young bears. The one first killed weighed over 400 lbs. — Journal 

On Sunday morning, December 1, 1805, at about three o'clock, the sloop 
Sarah, Capt. Bull, of New Cornwall, was upset 25 miles above New York, 
in a squall, and 20 persons drowned. Five persons were taken out of the 
cabin alive, by cutting a hole through the side of the vessel. The exact 
number of passengers- on board was not known, consequently the number 
cannot be precisely a?certained. Nearly all the passengers were in the cabin 
at the time of the accident — all on deck were saved. Several escaped by 
getting out of the cabin window. Mr. and Mrs. Huey of New York, Mfs. 
Van Gelder and daughter, Mr. James Duff, Miss Phebe Smith and Miss Es- 
ther Earl were among the sufferers. The sloop was righted and proceeded 
to New York. — Rccovler of the Times. 

1825, August. Mr. Jacob Salters and Theodore, son of John Townsend, 
Esq,, of Albany, fell from a loaded wagon, which passed over them and killed 
Salters instantly. Townsend survived till next day. 

1823, Febraary 17. An inquest was held over the body of Christoper 
Godfrey, who was frozen to death. He was a schoolmaster near Fort 
Montgomery, supposed to be a Scotchman, recently from the Eastern slates 

18-16. The skeleton of a man was found in Cornwall near the top of one 
of the neighboring mountains — supposed to be the remains of a person who 
had been missing for several years. He probably lost his way and perished 
with the cold, as he lay under the shelter ot a large rock. There was no cause 
for suspecting violence of any kind, as several articles of. considerable value 
— found in the pockets of his clothes. 






TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR, 



s ancient town is small in dimentions, lies east and 
jst, is wedge shaped, and driven in as it were, between 
Newburgh and Cornwall, with the small end resting on the 
river. Being in the vicinity of the Highlands, like some 
other towns, its physical condition is a little effected by such 
locality, and consequently has a diversified surface. The 
soil is generally thin, hard and ungenial, and demands skil- 
ful and continuous good tillage, when it produces well. The 
same tasteful spirit of agriculture, which is witnessed in other 
towns, in clearing up unsightly spots, draining off stagnant 
and surplus waters, and building up durable fences, &c., is 
not as generally visible through the town as we could wish. 
The lands in the vicinity of the river are an exception from 
this remark. Lands so near the Hudson and head of the 
market, cannot be permitted to lie idle, and be slovenly cul- 
tivate! without unpardonable negligence. Their proximity 
to market and the daily consumption of a mammoth city al- 
most Within sight, and which begins to affect the price of veg- 
etables and chickens in the gardens and barn-yards along 
"he river, would seem to force a high condition of agriculture 
whether the owners of the lands submit to it or not. This 
increasing demand will influence the price not only of many 
small vendable products., but of the great staples of the most 
expensive husbandry. The present prices of fanning pro- 
ducts, which will probably be maintained for some time to 
come, added to the obligation ever binding upon all to be in- 
dustrious and to improve their condition, ought, we think, to 
admonish the farming interest of the town at large, to put 
forth its best and most enduring energies. Besides, there is 
a pride, wiiich properly belongs to the cultivator of mother 
earth, which like some friendly but unseen guardian spirit, 
urges him on in the pleasant path of useful and ornamental 
improvement, which if kindly cherished, will be produrriv 
cf much private and public benefit. 



TOWN OF NEW- WINDSOR. 609 

The population of this town are eminently agricultural in 
iheir pursuits, many of whom, by steady industry and laud- 
able economy, are independent in their circumstances, and 
growing - every day more and more so. Wealth thus hardly 
and deservedly earned, is apt to be most profitable and en- 
during. 

The town is very deficient in brooks and streams of water, 
and has nothing which furnishes hydraulic power of any ex- 
tent, except Murderer's Creek, and that only for a few miles 
above its mouth. It contains one beautiful sheet of water, 
called the " Little Pond," which, though its outlet affords no 
milling privileges, yet it is being well stocked with the de- 
lightful Pickerel, put in some years since by the owners of 
the adjoining lands. The ice from this pond not unfrequent- 
ly is transported to Newburgh to supply the ice houses and 
cool the water of Cold Spring. 

The general surface of the land is rolling, with an occa 
sional high ridge running north and south, and for the most 
part, except in a few locations, quite stony. We do not 
know that there is any quarry or lime stone of any great val r 
ue in the town at large. Snake Hill is the only mountain 
elevation within her limits. This is a steep rocky eminence, 
covered with wood, about two miles west of the village of 
New Windsor. Its direction is north and south, and near 
the south line of Newburgh. The east front of the hill is al- 
most perpendicular, while the west side is smooth and of gen- 
tle declivity. It is a primitive formation, and of the kind 
denominated Gniess, a stratified granite. The name, by tra- 
dition, was from the fact of being infested by snakes at the 
early settlement of the town. In some letters on the Natur- 
al History and Internal Resources of the State of New York, 
written in 1820 by De Witt Clinton, under the signature of 
Hibernicus, and afterwards published in pamphlet form, he 
remarks, that " the Rattle Snake, among other localities, is 
found at Snake Hill, in Orange county," leaving it to be in- 
ferred the hill derived its name from being infested by this 
snake. Mr. Clinton, from the fact of his having been brought 
up in the town, and from his connection with, and residence in 
the county for many years, would seem to be good authority 
for this fact ; but we think him in error on the point, for the 
facts of the case as far as known, with tradition, are otherwise. 
We have made diligent enquiry and have learned, that the 
snakes which frequented this locality, were the Pilot and 
lo ng thin black snake. The latter is of a harmless character, 
but the former is very venomous, and its bite deadly, as that 

2M 



610 TOWN OK NEW-WINDSOR. 

of the Rattle Snake, and is sometimes called the bastard Rat- 
tle Snake. This snake prevailed from the Dans Earner to 
Butter Hill, and is still found on farms within that distance. 
The Rattle Snake infests the hills and mountains on the east 
side of the river, as if these two most venomous reptiles could 
not share the same dominion. Independent of the tradition, 
we should be slow to believe the truthfulness of the name. — 
The hill is granite and very slightly stratified — the east part 
almost perpendicular, the west covered with timber, 
and we do not see where snakes could burrow and hide thenar 
selves during winter. If this hill was limestone, open anil 
cavernous, as the hills along the river, in the vicinity Of 
Hampton are, our difficulty would be obviated ; still the tra- 
dition is, that in early times the place was notorious for snakes. 
Though the oldest living inhabitant has seen no more snakes 
there, than elsewhere, yet we have been told, that an old res- 
ident of the last generation was known to kill filly in a day, 
at the proper season, on the farm now owned by Mr. Eli Has- 
brouck, lying between Dubois' Mills and the hill. Such 
facts from creditable men, with good memories, are well cal- 
culated to upset all our speculations, and we may as well 
yield gracefully, to the force of tradition, especially when the 
lapse of time has erected such a public and durable monu- 
ment to its truth. We believe it is the disposition and habit 
cf the Pilot, spring and fall, to leave his den and visit the 
meadows and low grounds in the vicinity, and in this, differs 
from the Rattle Snake, which generally keeps close in his 
mountain home, having little inclination to run at large. — 
This habit of the Pilot insures his destruction sooner or later, 
for the incroachments of husbandry, and its train of disturb- 
ing and ruthless agents, will either confine him to nanow 
limits or work his ruin when he wanders abroad. During 
the Revolution, and while head quarters were in Newburgh. 
8 portion of the troops- were stationed in the vicinity of the 
hill,. This, with the early settlement of the lands around it, 
and other facts, have ever made the locality of interest in 
this part of the county. 

The land of fchis town fronting on the river, is interesting 
in a geological point of view, as is all the western shore from 
Butter Hill to the village of Newburgh, and extending back 
to Snake Hill, which partakes of the same general physical 
character. In some places the banks aie from 100 to 150 
feet high, composed of strata of sand, clay, loam, fine and 
coarse gravel, varying in thickness from two feet to the eighth 
of an inch.. The thin layer3 are of the finest materi&b, The 



TOWN OF NEW- WINDSOR. 611 

strata have a regular dip of a few degrees towards the north 
east y though in some cases where they are thin, they are quite 
horizontal, the whole formation having the appearance of 
having been deposited by the agency of water. The stones, 
varying in size from coarse graver to that of the human fist,, 
are generally rounded^ 

A large part of the farm of Mr. Philip A. Verplanck, at Plum 
Point, in this town, is of the same description, and the beau- 
tiful lawn around his- mansion, is an island at high water, 
118 feet above the water in the river. When digging his 
well some 12 or 15 years* since, which he sank 110 feet, a 
bone was found in pure sand T in good preservation, 40 feet 
below the surface. This, at the time, was supposed to be 
the leg bone of a foot, but when examined in New York was 
pronounced the leg bone of an unknown animal. 

This fact, and the general appearance and physical charac- 
ter of the locality of which we speak, are well calculated to 
excite our wonder and laudable curiosity, and instinctively 
lead us to inquire, when was this deposit of sand, clay, grav- 
el and bone made, and What the mighty agent that trans- 
ported them there. We are no geologist, and express no 
opinion on the subject, and will only refer to a theory which 
is supposed to solve the interesting fact, upon which we ex- 
press our doubts, and leave the matter to those who are bet- 
ter informed. We ought to have stated that the high banks 
at the village of New Windsor and at other places between 
that and Butter Hill, are of clean pur© clay, out of which a 
fine quality of brick is made. 

The theory referred to, is, that this magnificent valley was 
once a lake, and that the deposits we speak of, were made by 
its agency. 

Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, late of New York, dec'd*., cele- 
brated as a physisian and for extensive philosophical infor- 
mation, remarks in his appendix to the American Edition of 
Cuvier's Theorie, page 365, "that the Highlands farmed the 
southern barrier of a great lake whose waters were discharged 
by the opening through which the Hudson river passes.," If 
this was ever true, not only the southern portion of New 
York but a large part of Pennsylvania, indeed' the whole 
country from the Hudson to Barrisburgh, extending many 
miles north,, must have been covered by this lake. That the 
passage through the Highlands should have been made by 
the great pressure of the waters of this lake, we must suppose 
they rose to- near the top of Butter Hill, otherwise there- 
would not have been sufficient power to produce the rupture.. 



G12 TOWN OF NEW- WINDSOR. 

The bight of Butter Hill is 1500 feet ; we must also suppose 
that the whole of the southern harrier of the lake, extending 
the distance mentioned, was as high or nearly so, else the 
waters would have ran off at the parts lower than Butter Hill. 
This circular range of mountains is known in New Jersey as 
the Kittatany, in Virginia as the Powhatan range, in honor 
of Pocahontas, the celebrated Indian Princess, of which the 
Highlands are a part running out in this direction. Now the 
Susquehannah runs through an opening of this mountain 
circle, a rim of the lake, in the vicinity of Harrisburgh where 
the mountain is not half as high as Butter Hill. The waters 
of the lake therefore at West Point could not have risen with- 
in 800 feet of the summit of the Highlands, and the pressure 
wholly inadequate to rupture the solid mass of Butter Hill. — 
This statement we think presents the theory as futile and vis- 
ionary, and precludes the formation of a lake as intimated 
by the theory. There are several rivers which pass through 
gaps in this mountain range, the James, Potomac, Susque- 
hannah, Schuylkill, Delaware and Hudson. All these rivers 
were in the same confined and pent up condition at the 
time of which we speak, and when this lake rolled its inland 
waves over this country. Now we ask the friends of this 
hypothesis, did these six rivers at the same instant burst the 
southern barrier of the lake and vent themselves through the 
several ruptured gorges of the mountain, where we now find 
them running? They must have done so, otherwise the 
prostration of the stony barrier at one locality would have 
permitted the water to escape, and there would have been 
no physical cause or necessity for the other five. These sev- 
eral ruptures seem to be necessary to support the theory in 
question, but with our present limited knowledge of geology 
and physical geography, we give them no credence, nor be- 
lieve in that simultaneous rush of water. 

In addition we might ask, where was the outlet of the lake 
when the six rivers we have mentioned, poured their daily and 
yearly tributes into it, and before the rupture at the High- 
lands or other places. It cannot be that these rivers ran the 
basin full and then the rupture instantly followed. No ; if 
they ran before the event referred to, they ran for many 
years, and Hooded the granite, rim of the mighty bowl. — 
Evaporation would not have consumed the waters, as it does 
not in the northern lakes, where they are passed off by way 
of the St. Lawrence. 

The tide in the Hudson flows 170 miles to still water, anil 
the hight of land on the northern canal between tide-water 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 613 

and Lake Champlain is only 115 feet above tide ; from which 
it follows, the contents of the great lake in question, could 
and would have been drained off in that diiection, and by 
way of the St. Lawrence before they rose within 1000 feet of 
the altitude of Butter Hill. These splendid theories must 
have been entertained without a knowledge of the moun- 
tain altitudes and true configuration of this portion of the 
continent. Upon the hypothesis referred to, the Ohio river, 
by some great natural convulsion, broke through the Silver 
Hills below Louisville, and drained a large lake which laid 
to the north above them. The Natural Bridge of Rockbridge 
county, in Virginia, is thought to have been the result of 
some great internal convulsion of the earth, by which the 
mountain was vent asunder. But we conceive we have said 
sufficient to satisfy the reader that the true causes for the pre- 
sent passages of the several rivers named, have not been as- 
signed, if there ever were any, since the day the globe was 
finished. 

We might further remark, that Butter Hill furnishes no 
'■vidence of being ruptured. Her side next the water, and 
the same ma) - be said of the mountain below and on the op- 
posite side of the river, is smooth and regularly rounded. 
A violent rupture by any means would have left these rough, 
jagged and angular, which appearance they would have pre- 
served to this day, whatever the date of the event. They 
could not have been rounded and smoothed off as they now 
appear by the action of water, which would instantly have 
sunk never to rise again. 

Besides this, the river here is about 60 feet deep below the 
base of the mountain ; what power except that of the Al- 
mighty could have broken down a barrier of such width and 
depth ? An inspection of the locality contradicts and dis- 
proves the truth of the hypothesis. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT. 

We have previously remarked, that this town was princi- . 
pally settled by emigrants from Ireland, of whom Col. Chas. v 
Clinton, the father of George and James Clinton, was (he 
pioneer, and came to this town in 1731. This gentleman 
may be considered an early settler. On this article, we 
quote from our history of St. Andrew's Church, in Montgom- 
ery '. 

"As early as about the year 1732 or '33, this society (the 
London Missionary Society) sent out the Rev. Richard Charl- 



614 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

ton as their Missionary for the parish of New-Windsor, then 
forming apart of Ulster county. This parish, together with 
the surrounding country, was then but thinly settled, and 
contained but few families professedly attached to the church 
of England. The principal of these were the families of 
Messrs. Alsop, Ellison, Chambers, and Lawrence, residing 
in New-Windsor ; and those of Messrs. Colden, Mathews, 
Wileman, Mcintosh, Bull, &c, in the interior of the county, 
and all included in the parish of New-Windsor." 

It appears from this, that there were other families in the 
town of different religious faiths, at that time, but who they 
were we cannot state. The Mr. Chambers spoken of, was 
a patentee of the patent upon which the village of New- 
Windsor is situated. 

The belief is very general in this part of the county, that 
the village of New- Windsor is the oldest village in the pres- 
ent county of Orange, and the fact is so stated in Spofford's 
Gazetteer, but we are not in possession of any authority for 
the assertion. Being situated on the first convenient landing 
place on the river, above the highlands, renders it quite pro- 
bable that the spot was settled very early, and that a small 
cluster of houses soon grew up and formed the nucleus of the 
present village. Such locations are generally occupied be- 
foie those further removed in the country. The owners of 
the village plot, in 1749, were persons of English origin, 
who came to this county from Long Island. Their names 
were, Ebenezer Seely, Brant Schuyler, Henry Case, Vincent 
Mathews, Michael Jackson, Daniel Everet, Evan Jones, 
Hezekiah Howell, Joseph Sackett, Jr., James Tuthill, and 
John Sackett, Jr. The descendents of these individuals are 
still numerous in the county. Up to the time of the Revolu- 
tion the. whole foreign business of the county was done thro' 
New-Windsor. After that period Newburgh sprang up and 
inflicted a death blow upon the future prospects of the place, 
-since which she has remained almost stationary. 

Among the early patrons of the village, were William El- 
lison, Capt. James Jackson, William Jackson, Isaac Schultz, 
Mr. Logan, Mr. Byram, Mr. Halsted, Mr. Denniston, and 
others. Mr. Ellison was there as early as 1732, kept a store 
and owned sloops which sailed from there to the city of New 
York. The Jacksons were the captains of their own sloops. 
Mr. Ellison became a man of large estate, and owned large 
tracts of land. His grand son, Thomas Ellison, occupies his 
old mansion, just south of the village, which he has recently 
fitted up in handsome cottage style. We commend the kind 



TOWN OF NEW- WINDSOR. '615 

and filial spirit which preserves these old paternal structures. 

The first and only glass-house ever in the county was in 
this village. It stood at the north end of the village, 
where there is a brick yard at the present time, and 
where some of the logs which composed the dock are 
still to be seen. These works were continued till sometime 
after the war. The foreman of the bellows department of the 
establishment went out one night to a neighboring fanner's 
to get some flour, and when returning, was shot. At that 
time, deer were yet numerous in the vicinity, and two men 
had gone out the same night to kill some venison. While 
thfcy were watching for the deer, to come along their usual 
foot paths, the man, returning with his bag, came to a fence, 
and, getting over it, made a noise. The huntsmen, being 
within sight and supposing him to be a deer, shot and killed 
him dead. 

About the same time that William Ellison settled in the 
village of New- Windsor, his brother John settled the lands 
now owned by Maj. Morton, where he had a flour mill and 
store. All the grain for miles round, and as far west as the 
town of Montgomery, for family use, was ground or sold at 
this mill, for many years. Trading at his store was equally 
extensive at the time. Mr. Ellison, like all the old county 
settlers, lived in a log-house, and erected the stone building 
which is still standing, in 1735. William Bull, of Hamp- 
tonburgh, was the mason who built it, and time and the ele- 
ments have proved the work well done. Mai. Morton, the 
present owner of this old mansion, has, since tenanting it, 
placed it in good condition, and, with a laudable pride, pre- 
serves the principal rooms in their original style of finishing. 
The ceilings are high and airy, the walls decorated with car- 
ved wood work. It is a story and a half, with dormer win- 
dows, and has the appearance of many an old cottage which 
you have seen in the English books. In the custody of such 
a keeper the structure ought to last another century. Its situa- 
tion is pleasant and romantic, at a proper distance from the 
highway,in a beautiful part of the town. From the north comes 
a winding stream, which, being ponded below the road, ts 
carried by an under-ground tunnel, to turn the ancient mill, 
in ceaseless motion for a hundred years, while the surplus 
waters of the stream hurry and beat themselves along their 
rocky and natural bed to hide in the over-hanging shrubs 
and trees below. Beyond the vale along the brook, stand 
the tenant-houses, neat and well- cared for, in the upper a- 



616 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

partment of one of which Mr. Ellison maintained a church 
for a quarter of a century. 

In the pond and along the stream, the water-fowl are seen 
sporting about and driving their graceful forms with sinewy 
paddles towards the shore or beneath the smooth surface of 
the pond. But why describe? for we think if content and 
happiness are to be found and enjoyed on earth, it is in a spot 
like this. We wonder that this locality, with all its natural 
beauty and artificial garnature, has not long ere this been 
subjected to the faithful eye of the artist. 

Thomas Ellison, the ancestor and first emigrant, had seven 
children — Thomas, who lived in the city of New York and 
married Mary Peck ; William, who married Mary Floyd of 
Long Island ; John, who married Catharine Johnston of 
Kingston ; Betsey, who married Cadwallader Colden of Col- 
denham ; and Nelly and Polly, who never married. 

The land on the north side of Murderer's Creek was set- 
tled at an early period by Mr. John Nicoll, the father of John 
D. Nicoll, deceased, while the lands around the late residence 
of John Nicoll, the father of Leonard Nicoll and brother, were 
settled by Leonard D. Nicoll, their ancestor. There was ano- 
ther old settler by the name of Isaac Nicoll, a brother we 
suppose of John and Leonard. John Nicoll was a promi- 
nent man, and represented his county in the Colonial Legis- 
I "ire, and afterwards in the committee of safety — Col. Isaac 
Nicoll was also of that committee. 

On the lands formerly of John D. Nicoll, now of Mr. Phil- 
ip A. Verplanck,at Plum Point, and just north of his mansion, 
above the old battery, an individual by the name of McEvers. 
located and planted a log tenement, long anterior to the 
Revolution : not a vestige of which remains, except the ex- 
cavation which formed the cellar, which marks the spot of 
his dwelling place. He was from Scotland, and when about 
to emigrate, asked his faithful servant, Mike, if he would 
accompany him to America. Mike, with the dutiful sub- 

-sion of one u on the manor bom," answered, that he was 
happy to do so, and if needs be, he would follow him to the 
gates of Hell. They left, and the vessel arriving at New 
York through the Sound, ran on the Hog's back at Hurlgate. 
Mike, with the other passengers, being really alarmed for 
their safety and perilous situation of the ship, ran on deck 
and enquired what place that was, and received for answer, 
(i Hellgate." In utter fright and astonishment, his eyes al- 
most jumping from their sockets, Mike exclaimed, " true,. I 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 617 

agreed to follow my master to the gates of Hell, but. I did not 
promise to go through them." 

Alexander Denniston. — This gentleman emigrated tc 
this town from Longford, Ireland, in 1731, in the same ship 
with Col. Charles Clinton and John Young, the ancestor of 
Andrew N. Young, of Neelytown. He settled in Little Bri- 
tain about one mile south of the Little Britain Church, ad- 
joining "Stonefield," which was afterwards occupied by the 
Rev. Jon Moffatt, whose grammar school De Witt Clinton 
attended. This farm is owned by Mr. George Denniston, 
one of his descendents. 

The sons of Alexander were George, James, Alexander 
and William, whose descendents are spread over a large por- 
tion of the county. George had two sons, William and 
James. James had two sons, James and Abraham. James 
was the ancestor of the Hon. Robert Denniston, and Abra- 
ham of the Hon. Goldsmith Denniston. 

The sons of William were John, Isaac, Andrew and Arch- 
ibald. The descendents of Archibald reside along the Shaw- 
angunk Kill, and in the county of Sullivan. 

There is a family tradition rhat the vessel which brought 
out these emigrants from Ireland, was three months on her 
passage. Many of them were well informed and knew the 
length of an ordinary voyage, and became alarmed at the 
great length of the passage. At last it was discovered by 
Col, Clinton that it was intentionally caused by the Captain, 
to starve out the possengers and lessen their number by death 
or otherwise, and thus possess himself of their money, of 
which there was considerable on board. The captain was 
seized, put in irons by the passengers, and the command 
given to the mate, who brought the vessel in, in a few days. 

The lands east of Snake Hill, between it and the road, 
were also located and settled at an early period. Tradition 
says as early as the time of Queen Anne, which we question. 
As we are informed, it was during the old French war, by 
Gen. Haskins, an English officer. After the war he went to 
England and brought back with him many kinds of seeds, 
plants and cattle, which he cultivated and raised. He plant- 
ed a large orchard of trees brought home with him. He had 
plenty of negroes to assist him and cultivate his lands. It is 
said he had a small log prison toshutupand punish His negroes 
in, situate in the rear of his house, between it and the hill. 
His house is still standing, and was tenanted till within a 
year or two. It is made of square logs put well together, 
and at some period after being built was clap-boarded, for it 



618 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

is said that when the first boards were taken oft', the logs next 
to the hill were perforated with bullet holes, and contained 
many arrow heads. It is also said that there was an Indian 
burying ground between this house and the hill. This we 
think doubtful, for we are informed by an aged lady, that 
Haskins was buried in that same locality. If the tradition is 
based upon the appearance of old graves there, in former 
times, may they not have been the graves of Haskins and his 
negroes ? 

On lands located by Haskins, and afterwards known 
as the Duzenberry farm, during the Revolution, and while 
the army was stationed in that vicinity, General Washing- 
ton erected a large temporary building for the several pur- 
poses of a Church for the army, a lodge room for the frater- 
nity of Masons among the officers, and to hold public meet- 
ings as occasion might require. We have particularly spok- 
en of this building, and certain proceedings had in it of an 
interesting character at the time, in the early part of our pa- 
per. We now remark, that when it was finished, the officers 
of the army named it " the Temple of Virtue." Soon after 
completion, the officers got up a Ball to grace its patriot ex- 
istence, on the largest scale the condition of the country 
round, and their facilities for such a purpose, would admit of. 
All the youth and beauty, wit, wealth and charactei, from 
far and near, that could be collected on such a high and joy- 
ous occasion, were there. Fathers and mothers were there, 
and considering the time, place and circumstances, it was an 
honor to be there, to grace a ball room, and thread the mer- 
ry dance with, or in the presence of, the father of his coun- 
try and the saviours of the land. Doubtless all enjoyed the 
spirit of the festival as if it were the celebration of a victory 
rliat established the Independence of the country. 

The dance went on, and was continued till a late hour, 
when the hero general retired, and it was renewed, if possi- 
ble, in life and spirit. But there is an end to all things, and 
so with the <lance. The excitements of the night ended in a 
debauch with many of the officers, who finally conducted 
themselves in a loud and riotous manner, and the Temple 
forfeited its virtuous character. From that niffht the name 
was changed, and ever afterwards it was known as " the 
Temple." 

In connection with this ball at the Temple, if we dared to 
breathe audibly the name of a lady in our paper, we could 
state on the evidence of most veritable tradition, that there 
was one present on that joyful occasion, from the town of 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 619 



of the night, but who had the proud and enviable distinction 
of opening the festivities of the evening with the father of her 
country.. Not only so, but such was the deep and lasting 
impression made upon the beholders, that aged men in hoary 
locks, and strangers in Orange, fifty years afterwards, were 
heard to enquire of her welfare, speak of her beauty and the 
elegance of her person, in terms of admiration. This lady 
was the sister of Gen. Isaac Belknap, deceased, and married 
John Warren, Esq. of Saratoga. 

James Edmonston came to this country in 1720, from 
Enneskiller, in the county of Tyrone, Ireland. He landed 
at Plymouth, Massachusetts, where he staid seven years, and 
then removed to this town, purchased 200 acres and located 
it, just west of Vail's Gate, and known as the old stone Ed- 
monston house, which, with some of the purchase, are owned 
by his descendents. He purchased of the widow Ingoldsby, 
and paid twenty shillings per acre. There lie planted his 
log cabin, which at the time, was the only house from New 
Windsor to Washingtonville. At this time Indian huts were 
numerous along the brook west of Edmonston's. Their bury- 
ing ground was on the hill west of the brook, and covered 
several acres. My informant, a niece of James Edmonston's, 
a daughter of his son William, now 84 years old, says she 
recollects seeing 100 of them, and that they looked like lit- 
tle hay stacks. That the chiefs were buried at Schunemunk 
mountain. That on one occasion an Indian Doctor of this 
tribe had a quarrel with his wife, and he threatened to be re- 
venged by poisoning himself, which lie did. He went away 
by himself and when he returned he was deranged and blood 
was issuing from his mouth. 

The Indians came from all directions, some from over the 
river, to attend the funeral. They had no means of trans- 
porting him to the grave, and James Edmonston sent his son 
William and a negro boy to take the dead Doctor on a wood 
sleigh to Schunemunk mountain. It was in July. He was 
put in standing with pipes, tobacco, scalping knives and other 
articles. Then the Indians drank as they stood round the 
grave and made a great noise. They then told young Ed- 
monston to go home, " for when rum gets in an Indian's 
head, the devil gets in his heart." This frightened the boys, 
and one got on the horse, the other on the sled, and nei- 
ther looked back till they were far from the grave. 

When the army came to this county, a portion of it halt- 
ed at Edmonston's, (William) who being an old settler, and 



620 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

acquainted with the country, General Washington requested 
him to go with him and Col. Pickering and select a camp 
ground. He went, and following an Indian path, led them 
to the Square, where they proceeded to establish their camp. 

Edmonston at the time had a large field of potatoes, which 
the soldiers dug out for their own use, except a few bushels, 
and shot down 16 of his fat hogs. The Hospital stores while 
the ami}' was encamped at the Square, were kept at his 
house. Washington had his head quarters at the old Has- 
brouck stone house in Newburgh, Gates and St. Clair were 
at Edmonston's, Green and Knox at John Ellison's, and La 
Fayette at William Ellison's. 

At the commencement of the French war, an old Indian 
owed James Edmonston a dollar, and he told him to come 
fo his wigwam and he would pay him. He went, and the 
Indian attacked him and endeavored to scalp him, but Ed- 
monston knocked him down and escaped. Being friendly 
to the French they then cleared out in a body from this part 
of the county. When they got as far as St. Andrews 7 church 
some English troops had a brush with them and killed 17 of 
the Indians. Gen. Clinton was a Captain at the time and was 
in the skirmish. 

The stone house, still standing, was built in 1755. After- 
wards there was an addition put up, making half of the pre- 
sent building. 

James Edmonston married Margaret Smith in Ireland, be- 
fore emigration, who was an aunt to Benjamin Smith of 
Newburgh, and whom he brought to the country. He had 
two children, William and Sally. William married Jane 
Sutherland, daughter of David Sutherland of Canterbury. 
Cornwall, and Sally married Patrick McDaniel. William 
had four daughters and three sons. James married Gertrude 
Harris of Poughkeepsie ; William, Mary Tompkins, daugh- 
ter of Daniel Tompkins of Westchester, and David, Marga- 
ret Dunning of Scotchtown, Orange county. 

The old public highway leading from Neelytown to New 
Windsor, ran centrally through the whole town, and along 
and in the vicinity of it, were the families of the Woods, 
Youngs, Cross, King, Morrison, Dill, Smith, Man Neely, 
Beatti e, Burnet, Nicholson, Monell, Denniston, McClaugh- 
ry, Humphrey, Galloway, Parshal, Crawford, Belknap, 
Clinton, Falls, Mulliner, and many other early settlers whose 
descendents are still numerous in the town and county. 

In the vicinity of the village of New Windsor, and at the 
head of the Vale, Mr. Robert Boyd lived before and at the 



TOWN OF NEW- WINDSOR. 621 

Revolution, and had a forge in operation between that and 
the residence of Mr. John H. Walsh, on Chamber's creek, as 
early as 1775. The spot is, and has for many years, been 
overgrown by woods. The holes perforated in the rocks in 
the bed of the stream to fasten the erections to, with much of- 
fal from an establishment of that kind, are still visible. 

On the records of the Provincial Congress we find the following entries : 

In Provincial Congress, June 6, 1775. 

Henry Watkeys, a Gunsmith, was sent for by order of the Congress, and 
attended. After conversing with him on the subject of making gun-barrels, 
he agreed to go to New Windsor to consult with Mr. Robert Boyd about 
forging gun-barrels and making muskets. 

Die Lunae, Monday, June 12, 1775. 

A letter from Mr. Robert Boyd at New Windsor, dated 10th inst., on the 
subject of making muskets, was received, read and filed. 

The Congress took into consideration the letter from Robert Boyd, and 
the proposals of Henry Watkeys, relating to making muskets and bayonets. 

Resolved, That this Congress will agree with Robert Boyd and Henry 
Watkeys, that they shall make 1000 good muskets with steel ramrods, and 
bayonets with scabbards, at the price of £3 15s New York money, for each 
good musket with a steel ramrod and bayonet with scabbard, including ike 
bounty to be allowed by this Congress. 

Resolved, That this Congress will immediately advance the sum of £100 
to assist them in procuring necessary tools and materials, &c. 

Ordered, That Colo. Lispenard, Cap. Montgomevie and Colo. Clinton, be 
a committee to treat with said Robert Boyd and Henry Watkeys, &c. 

The contract was made, the articles were to be furnished in 
small parcels as soon as possible, and delivered to the com- 
mittee. The Congress anticipated great difficulty and em- 
barrassment in this department for prosecuting the war, as 
arms of all kinds were manufactured in Europe, and it be- 
came necessary to make some wise provision for it in time. 

Provincial Congress, Die Mercurie, 28th Feb., 1776. 
A letter from Robert Boyd, dated, New Windsor, 23d inst., was read and 
filed, he therein informs that he has got the best Smith's shop in the Colo- 
nies — that he finds it difficult to get workmen. That he will deliver arms 
for the public money received, and that he is inclined to think he shall not 
proceed farther on his old contract. 

EXTRACTS FROM TOWN RECORDS. 

At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the precinct of New 
Windsor, at the house of Judah Harlow, on the first Tuesday of April, 1763, 
agreeable to the directions of an act of the Governor, Council and General 
Assembly of the province of New York — an act entitled " an act for dividing 
the precinct of the Highlands, in Ulster County, in two counties, (by a line 
therein mentioned) one to be called by the name of New Windsor Precinct, 
and the the other by the name of Newburgh Precinct." According to the di- 
rections of said act were chosen — 

Joseph Belknap, Clerk: George Harris, Supervisor; 



622 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 



Samuel Brewster, George Denniston, James Humphrey, Assessors; 

Alexander Denniston, Constable and Collector; 

Judah Harlow and Capt. James Clinton, Overseers of the Roads ; 

David Crawford and John Nicoll, Overseers of the Poor; 

Andrew Crawford and William Lawrence, Fence Viewer?. 

Then adjourned to the house of Joseph Belknap. 

1769. The Road Districts and Road Masters were: — 

John Galloway, Overseer, from William Slulliner's to the pretinct line 
westerly ; 

James Denniston, from Wm. Mulliner's to the top of Snake Hill ; 

Theophilus Corwin, from the top of Snake Hill through New Windsor to 
Hudson's River, and up Goshen road as far as the road that leads off to Ar- 
thur's Mill, and to take all the inhabitants on the North side of Murderer's 
Creek, as high as they are to work ; 

Samuel Arthur, at the creek and the rest of the road upwards, and to take 
the remainder of the inhabitants left therein. 

From 1763 to 1770, the following - persons held office : — 



James Humphrey, 
Alex. Denniston, 
John Nicoii, 
Isaac Hodge. 
Ch. McCalhster. 
Silas Wood, 
Andrew Ciawford. 
Moses Fowler, 
Alexander Fails, 
William Edmistoi:, 
John Monell, 
James Jackson. 
Nathan Smith, 
John Galloway, 
Samuel Arthur, 
Samuel Logan, 
James Denniston, 
James Faulkner, 
Nathaniel Boyd. 
James Neely, jun., 
John Beaty, 



George Denniston, 
James Clinton, 
Alexander Crawford, 
David Humphrey, 
Leonard Nicoll, 
John Yelverton, 
Robert Buchanan, 
John Nicholson, 
Thomas King,. 
Robert Boyd, 
John Ellison, 
Patrick McClar;ghrey : 
Samuel Sly, 
Charles Clinton, 
James McClaurey, 
Walter McMickle,. 
Isaac Shultz, 
Neal McArthur, 
Thomas Ellison,. 
Henry Man Neely, 



Samuel Brews-ter, 
Judah Harlow. 
David Crawford, 
— William Lawrence.. 
Hezekiah WA;te, 
John Arthur, 
Robert Casrkadan, 
Edward Falls, 
Jonathan Parshall, 
Isaac Nicoll, 
Francis MandeviU,. 
James Neely, 
Arthur Beaty, 
Reuben Weed, 
James Denniston, 
George Clinton, 
Wm. Jackson, 
Edward Neely. 
Wm. Malliner, 
Wm. Ellison, 



We should have been pleased to give a greater namber of 
the early settlers, but were prevented from doing so, as the 
road districts do not contain the names of the residents- on 
them. 

The following sums were raised for the poor : 

1770, voted £20, 1774, voted £&, 1 778, voted £80,. 

1771, do 20, 1775, do 30, 1779*, do 150, 

1772, do 20, 1776, do 25, 1780, do 500. 

1773, do 20, 

Settled all accounts,, due to- the precinct for the use of the poor, that we 
could find out, and after paying all the poor accounts, there now remains- a 
balance due the precinct from the following: persons: 

In the clerk's hands, £\ r 0a- lOi 






TOWN OF »£W-\VIND30R. 623 

John Kicoll's do 1, 16, 

Thomas Burnet, do 15, 



£3, 11, 

John Nicoll, credit by cash, 1, 15, 

1770. Patrick McClaughrey, James McClaughrey and George Clinton, 
Commissioners of Highways, by virtue of an act of the colony, divided the 
precinct into four districts for road purposes, and apportioned the money, 
raised for laying out, regulating and keeping in repair the common roads 
among the districts. 

1773. James Clinton paid Robert Boyd, jun, 4s. for carrying a warrant 
to the constable of the precinct against John Granger. 

1775. Robt Stewart produced an account for keeping an illegitimate child 
of Thomas IVicoll, which he had by Wan. Mulliner's servant girl, but it was 
not allowed by the precinct, as they think Wm. Mulliner is obliged to 
maintain it. 

1777. The committee of safety of the precinct were Samuel Brewster, 
Kobert Boyd, jr., Nathan Smith, Esq., Hugh Hump&rey, George Denniston, 
John Nicbll, Esq , Col. James McClaughrey, Leonard D. Nieoils and Samuel 
Arthur. 

1782. Voted that Widow Mary Nleolson's blind child be set up at ven- 
due, and sold to the lowest bidder — she to hav* the refusal, The child 
struck off at $10. 

This is the fijfst sale of the poor on the town record, but af- 
terward* it was very common. 

1 r:» 1 . HaasGohnston stuck off for £42, Patrick Moran, £9 

Thomas Nicholson, (blind man,) 4 15s. Beak Turner. 7 

1801. James Clinton manumitted his negro wench, Gube. 
1S02. John Ellison manumitted four slaves. 

EXTRACT FROM THE WILL OF POL. JAMES M'CLAUGHREV. 

" That is to say, hist of all, it is my will and pleasure to set all my negro 
servants free, (except the two female negro servants hereinafter named, and 
devised to my beloved wife, Agnes McClaughrey) and I do hereby set them 
as free, from all persons claiming, orto claim, by, from or under me, as heirs 
or otherwise, and from all other persons whomsoever, in manner and form 
following, as if they had all been born free: — First, T give and bequeath 
unto my negro servant man Casar, his freedom and five shillings in money. 
I, also, give and bequeath unto my negro servant man, named William, his 
freedom, together with £200 in a certain bond of public securities now in 
my hands, commonly called Bankers' Notes, and also, one narrow axe, one 
hue and one scythe. And I also give unto my said negro servant William, 
and my negro servant named Thomas, one- yoke of oxen, one ox yoke, one 
ox chain and one harrow, to belong equally to them, share and share alike. 
Also, 1 give and bequeath unto my said negro servant Thomas, his freedom 
and £190 in the public securities aforesaid, together with one narrow axe.one 
broad hoe and one scythe. Also I give and bequeath unto my negro servant 
man named Loudon, his freedom and £180 of the aforesaid securities or notes, 
together with one narrow axe, one broad hoe and one scythe. I, also,, give 
unto my said negro servant Loudon, and his brother, my negro servant, 
nnmad John or Jack, one yoke of oxen, and one ox chain, to belong equally 
to them, share and share alike. Also, I give and bequeath unto my said 
negro servant John, or Jack, his freedom and the sum of £180 of the afore- 
said publi: securities or notes, together with one narrow axe, one broad ho? r 




624 TOWN OV NEW-W»NDSOR. 

and one scythe. Also, I give unto my negro servant, by name, Priam, his 
freedom, when he arrives at twenty-one years of age, and £€0 of the afore- 
said public securities or notes, togeher with one narrow a.ve and one broad 
hoe. Also I give and bequeath unto my old negro servant woman, named 
Nan, her freedom, and all the cows or cattle called or known by my family, 
to belong to her, or which may be called or known to belong to her, at the 
time of my decease, together with her bed and bedding, all her wearing ap- 
parel of every kind, and it is my will, and I order and advise her to live with 
her daughter Rebecca Also, I give unto my servant woman, named Rebecca, 
her freedom at my death, together with one cow, her bed and bedding, and 
all her wearing apparel. Also, I give unto my negro servant girl, named 
Ann, her freedom when she arrives at twenty-one years of age, and until 
that time, it is my will and order, that she serve my beloved wife, Agnes." 

This will is dated July 17, 1790, and subsequent to the 
death of the Colonel, and proof of his will, the town author- 
ity took the following - proceedings : 

" In pursuance of the said last will and testament, and agreeable to the 
directions of the act, entitled "An act concerning slaves.'' passed February 
'2~, 178S, we, John Green and Isaac Shultz, Overseers of the Poor, for the 
town of New Windsor, together with John Morrison and Francis Crawford, 
Esqs., two of the Justices of the Perce oi the said county of Orange, do 
hereby certify, that we have examined into the age and ability of the afore- 
said negro man, named Loudon, so manumitted as aforesaid, and on sufficient 
security being given to us by his brothers, William and Thomas Mc,Claugh- 
;y, two of the before mentioned negro men, manumitted as aforesaid, and at 
present, freeholders and inhabitants of the town of Walkill, in the county of 
Orange aforesaid, by bond bearing date the 30th day of April, 1 7 9 f) , in the 
penal sum of $1, 500, that the said London shall not become a charge to the 
town, or any other city or town within this state, wherein he may at any 
time hereafter reside: and do judge, that the above named negro man Lon- 
don, of the age of thirty, in consequence of the above security to us given 
is of sufficient ability to provide for and maintain himself, and is manumitted 
agreeably to the provisions of said act. In witness, etc." 

These negroes acted very judiciously in laying out their 
money in new lands, at Honey Pot, in the town of Walkill. 
Here the old stock lived for many years, in good standing, 
and in the respect of their white neighbors ; but, we believe, 
their descendents do not maintain the character and respect 
of their ancestors. 

EXTRACTS KROM TOWN LAWS. 

1792. Sixthly. If any miller, or persons owning mills, Within this town, 
shall suffer his or their horses, neat cattle, sheep or swine to frequent the 
doors of their mills, during the winter season, they shall forfeit the sum of 
one shilling for each creature for each offence, and make good the damages 
done, etc. 

Eighthly. That in all cases of persons meeting each other on any of the 
public roads or highways, within this town, in carriages, wagons, carts or 
sleighs, those who are coming from market shall give way to all such as are 
going to market, under the penalty of eight shillings for each offence, etc. 

This town record is admirably kept; the clerkship fine, 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 625 

and the laws sensible and clearly expressed. The early 
settlers seem to have been men accustomed to do public bus- 
iness, and have left the impress of their minds and characters 
upon their town records. Though we examined them 
through, we did not find anything odd, curious or insensible. 
Names of Places on Town Record from 1763 to 1773. — 
Alexander Falls' Saw Mill, the Goshen Road, Road to the 
Clove, Murderer's Creek, Snake Hill, Arthur's Mill, Hunt- 
ing Grove, Little Britain, the King's Road, Brewster's forge, 
Silver Stream, Beaver Dam, Coleman's Mill. 

Tar and Feathers. — During the early part of the Revo- 
lution Col. Morgan came on with 3,000 southern troops to 
join Washington in the vicinity of Boston, and marched 
through New Windsor. Just before they arrived a man 
meanly dressed, but otherwise a gentleman in appearance, 
called at William Edmons ton's and said that Col. Morgan 
was coming. He went on and stopped at Mr. Ellison's, in 
the village, and there said that he was Col. Morgan. Morgan 
soon came and found the man there and the deception was 
exposed. He gave the man over to his troops to be punished as 
they thought proper, who tarred and feathered him. Rachel 
Cooper, who lived in the village, and sold cake and beer, 
furnished the pillow of feathers for the purpose. The op- 
eration is said to have been effectually performed. The 
stranger doubtless was a spy. Mrs. Cooper was half Indian, 
and had a son, Robert, who was taken prisoner at Fort Mont- 
gomery, and starved to death in the old Sugar house. 

New- Windsor Tea Party. — During the Revolution tea 
was quite scarce, and could not in many localities be had for 
love or money. The ladies of the county had become so 
habituated to use the delightful beverage, that it was difficult 
for them to do without it, and in several instances they as- 
sumed to appropriate it to themselves by the hand of violence. 
Mr. Isaac Schultze kept a tavern in the village, and one dav 
a teamster called in to procure something to eat, and, among 
other articles, requested a cup of tea. Mrs. Schultze told 
him that she had none, and it could not be procured in the 
village. He replied, that he thought there was some, and if 
not, there would be soon. The hint was taken, and the ar- 
ticle soon found, stowed away in boxes in a teamster's wagon. 
In this transaction, the women were a little more busy than 
their husbands, and the following proceedings relate the na 
ture of the transaction : 

Aldan-y Committer Chamber, July 19, 17t7. 
Honorable Sir : The bearers, Messrs. James Caldwell and John Maley, 

S N 



$26 TOWN OF NEW- WINDSOR. 

inhabitants of this city, and persons well attached to our cause, Lave repre- 
sented to us, that they have lately purchased a quantity of tea at Philadelphia, 
at a very high price ; that the tea, upon its arrival at New-Windsor, was 
seize j by a number of men and women, and disposed of at the rate of 6s. per 
pound, by which means they have lost a large sum of money. 

They begged us to write on the subject- to the Council of Safety, and to 
beg their interposition in the matter. 

The Council will please 'o observe, that this tea does not come within the 
resolution of Congress, as it was imported or captured about two months 
ago. in expectation of redress in the premises. We remain, 

To the Honorable, the President Your very humble servants, 

of the Council of Safety lor the " John Barclay Ch 

State of New York, a f Kingston. 

In Council of Safety, July 22, 1777. 
The Committee of Safety, to whom was referred the letter of John Bar- 
. Chairman of the Committee of Albany, etc., relating to tea of 
il Iweil and Maley, seized and disposed of by sundry inhabitants of the 
lie at and. near New-Windsor, brought in their report, etc. 
Resolved, That this Council do highly disapprove of such violent and 
disorderly proceedings ; and that, in a free country, no man ought to be di- 
l ested of hia property, but by his own consent, or the law of the land. 
Resolved, That this Council will not exercise the powers of a court of ju- 
iture, and that the said James Caldwell can obtain satisfaction for the in- 
oi which he complains, in the ordinary court of law. 

Da m l Taylor, the spy, and the silver ball. — After Fort 
Montgomery was taken, Gov. Clinton established his head 
ks at the Square, at the house of Mrs. Falls, for the 
pose of collecting together his shattered and dispersed 
troops, with such of the militia and regulars as might be sent 
to his assistance., to enable him to march to Esopus, and pre- 
vent the English, who were expected to proceed up the river, 
from landing and injuring the country. By the time the en- 
emy >1 i the chain at Fort Mongomery and proceeded up 
the river, Gen. Clinton had collected a small body of troops, 
and hem irchod upon Esopus by the valley of the Walkill, 
and ) od there just as the English were retiring after 
burning the village. 

Co;) - , of a Letter from. Gov. Clinton to he Council of Safety. 

"head quarters, } 

"Mrs. Falls', 11th Oct. 1777. $ 
"Dear Sir — I am this moment favored with your letter of 
yesterday, with a letter from Mr. Morris (by a second ex- 
press,) containing the most agreeable accounts from the 
northward. By a copy of a letter from Gen. Sir Henry Clin- 
ton to Burgoyne now enclosed you, you will observe that 
Clinton is no way confident of their being able to form a 
junction of their armies, though there a r e nothing but bars 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 627 

between them. I wish nothing more than that Clinton may 
attempt it. 1 am persuaded that though the chance of war 
ma} T at times occasion our prospect to appear gloomy when 
the enemy push hard, yet it is in that way their ruin must 
and will be effected ; and I greatly hope that Clinton, not 
wise enough to improve by example, will, like Burgoyne, 
('flushed with his late success,) give stretch to his forces, or 
at least send parties out to try the affections of the inhabi- 
tants ; in either case, I have not a doubt but he will meet 
with the same fate. Should this not be the case, I hope in a 
few days to have strength enough to be the assailant. 

"We have nothing new here since I wrote you yesterday. 
I have sent a flag to Gen. Clinton for a list of our prisoners, 
&c, which is not yet returned. 

"The letter from Clinton to Burgoyne, taken from Daniel 
Taylor, was enclosed in a small silver ball of an oval form, 
about the size of a fusee bullet, and shut with a screw in the 
middle. When he was taken and brought before me he 
swallowed it. I mistrusted this to be the case from informa- 
tion I received, and administered him a very strong emetic, 
calculated to operate either way. This had the desired ef- 
fect ; it brought it from him ; but though close watched, he 
had the art to conceal it a second time. I made him believe 
i had taken one Capt. Campbell, another messenger who he 
knew was out on the same business ; that I learned from him 
all I wanted to know, and demanded the ball on pain of be- 
ing hung up instantly and cut open to search for it. This 
light it forth. 

"I have been particular in this little matter that you may 
in future understand this new mode of conveyance. 
'T am, in great haste, with high esteem, 

"Your most obedient servt. 

"GEO. CLINTON." 

"Fort Montgomery, Oct. 8, 1777 
"Nous y void, and nothing now between us but Gates.— 
I sincerely hope this little success of ours may facilitate your 
operations. In answer to your letter of the 28th Sept. by C. 
C. I shall only say, I cannot presume to order or even ad- 
vise, for reasons obvious. 1 heartily wish you success. 

"Faithfully yours, 

"H. CLINTON." 

(Copy.) "GEO. CLINTON." 

Dr. Moses Higby of Newburgh, who resided near Mrs. 
Falls, at the Square, was the Physician who administered 



628 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

the medicine spoken of in the letter. The Dr. ever after- 
wards, prided himself greatly on that incident in his prac- 
tice, which he neither forgot nor permitted any one else to 
disrerrieraber, or be ignorant of. 

The reader will observe, that Taylor was sent with dis- 
patches from Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, then at Fort Mont- 
gomery, to Burgoyne at the north, near Saratoga. As he 
proceeded north, supposing himself to be with the British, 
without knowing it, he passed within the American lines 
and was captured. When challenged by a soldier on duty, 
who asked him if he was a friend or foe, replied, "a friend, 
and that he wanted to see Gen. Clinton." The soldier said 
he would conduct him to the General. Taylor all the while 
supposed, that he was being conducted to Gen. Sir Henry 
Clinton, but when he was ushered into the presence of Gen. 
George Clinton he was undeceived, and heard to exclaim, 
" I am lost." 

The ball was then procured as stated in Gen. Clinton's 
letter, and he kept safely till the General marched to Eso- 
pus, when he was taken along with the army, where he was 
tried and condemned as a spy. He was executed by being 
hung on the limb of an apple tree, in or near the village. — 
John Woodworth, we believe, the father of the late Judge 
Wood worth of the Supreme Court of this State, acted as 
Judge Advocate on the trial. Taylor was a Major in the 
British service at the time. 

Clinton Family. — We claim to make an extended notice 
of this family in this town, for any town or nation might well 
take pride in owning this family. It is said to be of Norman 
origin, and individuals of the name are found in the history 
<>!' the Crusades, and other national chronicles. We next 
find the family in England, in the reign of Charles 1, espous- 
ing the royal side in the civil war. The cause failed, and 
we find them next in Scotland, where they had fled for safe- 
ty, perhaps assisting Charles 2d to re-conquer England with 
a Scotch army. After the battle of Worcester the family are 
found in Ireland, where the ancester died, leaving one in- 
fant son. James, the son, when of age, attempted to regain 
the estate in England which his father lost by espousing the 
royal cause, and failed. There he married Elizabeth Smith, 
and her fortune enabled him to live respectably. Charles, 
his son, was a dissenter, and opposed to the; ruling party in 
Ireland. At the Revolution in 1689, and accession of the 
house of Hanover, Ireland was treated as a vanquished conn- 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 629 

try, find Charles, then 40 years old, resolved to emigrate to 
America. In this he was joined by a number of his friends 
and neighbors. They embarked from Dublin, May 1729, 
intending to go to Pennsylvania, and did not arrive till Oc- 
tober, when they landed at Cape Cod. On the passage ma- 
ny died. Clinton lost a son and two daughters. Here they 
remained till another settlement was formed in the town of 
New Windsor, and removed there in the spring of 1731, and 
formed the nucleus of that industrious body of Presbyterians 
in and about Little Britain, the name of the settlement. Afl 
this time this was a frontier post, and Clinton's house was 
fortified as a security for himself and neighbors against the 
Indians. Being a man of capacity, he was appointed a 
Judge of the Common Pleas^ then in Ulster. He had four 
sons born at Little Britain, the two eldest were Physicians. 
James, the third son, born 1736, when the war of 1756 broke 
out, was appointed Ensign under his father, who was ap- 
pointed Lieut. Col. in the militia, both of whom were in ser- 
vice and present at the taking of Fort Fontenac in Canada, 
now Kingston. 

The fourth son was called George, after the Colonial Gov- 
ernor of that name, who claimed kindred with the settler at 
Little Britain. George was Governor of New York and died 
Vice President of the U. S., and well known in the history of 
the country. 

James Clinton, at the commencement of the Revolution, 
was Col. of a Regiment of Ulster militia, and had married 
Miss Mary De Witt, of a Dutch family from Holland, and 
four sons were the fruit of the marriage. Charles, the father. 
died in 1773. When hostilities broke out, 1775, James Clin- 
ton was one of the officers first named, by Congress to com- 
mand the army, he was a Col. in the New York line and at 
the close of the war a Maj. Gen. He distinguished himself 
in defending the pass of the Highlands, when stormed by the 
English in 1777. He then served under the Governor, his 
brother George. The British forces then in service were 
commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, son of the old Colonial 
Governor. When serving with Gen. Sullivan against the 
Indians, in order to join him, it was necessary to cut a mil- 
itary road from the Mohawk to Lake Otsego. Boats were to 
be built and floated over the bars and shallows of the uppei 
Susquehannah, and this he accomplished by a happy thought 
— by damming up the outlet of the lake, which raised the 
waters sufficiently for the purpose. He was at the capture ol 



630 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

Cornwallis, and at the end of the war retired upon his 
farm in Orange. 

Dewitt Clinton was born March 2, 1769, at Fort Dewitt, 
now in the town of Deerpark, at the residence of Capt. Jas. 
Dewitt. This Fort was both residence and Fort, being a 
stone-house fortified to an extent to be a protection against 
the Indians, who for many years before the Revolution were 
troublesome in that vicinity, being on the outskirts of the 
white settlements. The birth place of Mr. Clinton is of no 
moment of itself, but like any other immaterial circumstance, 
is made material only when misstated. Time and place in 
legal proceedings are generally immaterial ; but if stated at 
all, they ought to be stated correctly. If the Declaration 
state a transaction to be at a certain place, the plea may take 
advantage, deny it and aver another place. In this way a 
place may become material. In history and biography, if a 
place is stated, it must be true in point of fact : else truth is 
violated, and it had better not have been mentioned. Seven 
cities claimed the birth place of Homer, and half that number 
of places have claimed the birth of Mr. Clinton. The village 
of New Windsor long since sat up her pretension for the 
honor ; and Barber in his "Recollections," has awarded it 
to her. 

Others allege that he was born at the first and old reside] i 
of Gen. Clinton in Little Britian, near Washingtonville, and 
where his father resided till about 1800, when he removed 
and built on the farm, still in Little Britain, on the road from 
Newburgh to Neelytown,and where he died. Others, suppos- 
ing that his father always resided at the place where he died, 
think Dewitt was born there, and we, the last pretender, put 
in a claim for the town of Deerpark as justly entitled to the 
honor. James Renwick, LL.D-, Professor in Columbia col- 
lege, the biographer of Mr. Clinton, in p. 25 says, u Dewitt 
Clinton was born March 2, 1769, at Little Britain, the resi- 
dence of his father, Gen. James Clinton." In old times, 
Little Britain was a settlement of large and indefinite extent, 
reaching in one direction from the village of New Windsor to 
the town line of Montgomery, and in another, from Wash- 
ingtonville to the south lines of Newburgh and Montgomery. 
We recently read in an old paper, printed forty years since, 
that all the letters which came to the post office in Little Brit- 
tha't had no particular direction marked on them, the Post- 
master marked them "Little Britain." It will be recollected 
we are writing local, not general history, and this is our 
justification for detaining the reader on so small a point. 



TOWN OF NEW-WINO'CH. 631 

To the above claims we put in a plea, denying their truth, 
insisting on the accuracy of ours. Though our proofs are 
of a traditionary character, yet we think them sufficient to 
establish the point, in the absence of all direct proof, estsb- 
lishing a different place. The tradition in that town, and 
in the immediate vicinity of the Foit, the old residence of the 
Dewitts, is, that in February, 1769, James Clinton, with his 
lady, came to the Fort on a visit to see her brother, Capt. 
Jacob R. Dewitt, that a violent snow storm came on, which 
lasted some days, and when it abated, Mrs. Clinton was 
found to be in such an interesting situation, it was deemed 
imprudent and unsafe for her to return home, and the visitors 
remained at the fort. They did not reach home in six weeks, 
and it was during this time Dewitt was born. About fourteen 
years since, one of the sons of Dewitt Clinton was in tl i 
town, surveying the Neversink River, among other things to 
determine the height of its fall, etc., and requested Mr. Wil- 
liam C. Rose of Cuddebackville, to accompany him + .e 
Fort, that he might see the birth place of his father, which 
Mr. Rose did. For the proofs here made, we are indebted to 
Mr. Rose, though they are very generally known and credited 
in that town, and of their truth there can be no doubt. 

Rev. Mr. Moffatt, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in 
the settlement, superintended his early education. In 1782, 
he attended Kingston Academy. This school maintained 
usefulness during the war, which more or less injured .1 
other academies. Kingston had been burnt, but the suspen- 
sion of the school was of short duration. Mr. Clinton entered 
Columbia College, and was the first matriculated student i 
the resuscitation of that institution after the war. It w 
of him, at that time, that " He was apt to learn anything 
required of him, clear in mathematics and correct in classi< 
knowledge. — He did every thing well, and seemed likely t j 
prove a highly useful and practical man ; what the Romans 
call civilis, a useful citizen." He graduated in 1786, and 
entered the law office of Samuel Jones, then of hi?h rank in 
his profession. 

At the end of three years he was admitted to the bar, bi , 
being appointed secretary to his uncle, then Governor of the 
state, he consented toaccept the appointment, and forego the 
hopes and honors of his profession. His life then became 
devoted to politics — more fortunate to his country than him- 
self. We need not trace him further ; for he already belongs 
to History. The offices he held were numerous ; and thi 
evidence of his capability and of public sentiment. He was a 



632 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

Member of Assembly, Senator of the State, Member of the 
Council of Appointment, Senator of the United States, Mayor 
of the city of New York, with many re-appointments, Mem- 
ber of the Canal Board, Governor of the State and re-elected, 
a candidate for the Presidency, invited by Mr. Adams to serve 
as Minister to England, etc. 

His biographer says " He was exemplary in his private 
relations ; a good and affectionate husband ; a kind and ju- 
dicious father ; kind to his friends, for whom he would sacri- 
fice his own interest ; and though reserved in manner in 
mixed society, was playful, sportive and cheerful in his in- 
tercourse with children, and his absence always regretted by 
them. He was an early riser and despatched his correspon- 
dence before breakfast, which gave him the remainder of the 
day, and made him appear a man of leisure. He was al- 
ways successful in his elections when the question was sub- 
mitted to the people. He failed when an aspirant for the 
Presidency opposed to Mr. Madison. He never loved money, 
and consequently died in honorable poverty. Dewitt Clin- 
ton was eminently a great man and useful citizen." 

This will be more apparent, when we enumerate some of 
the important acts which he drew and advocated in a legis- 
lative capacity. 

An act to provide for a State Arsenal. 

An act relative to the Fortifications erected by the State. 

An act for laying out Canal street in the city of New York. 

An act respecting a Digest of the Public Laws of the State. 

An act to enlarge the powers of the Orpan Asylum Society. 

An act to amend the Insolvent Laws. 

An act to prevent the inhuman treatment of Slaves. 

An act to prevent the further introduction of Slaves- 

An act for the support of the Quarantine Establishment. 

An act to incorporate the New York Missionary Society. 

.411 act to amend the Militia Laws. 

An act to incorporate the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows and 
Small Children. 

An act for ptomoting Medical Science. 

An act respecting the Free School Society. 

An act for the partition of Haerlem Commons. 

An act concerning the Onondaga Salt Springs. 

An act for the further encouragement, of Free School. 

An act ior the better protection of Sheep. 

An act securing to Mechanics, etc. payment for their labor and materials 
in the city of New York. 

An act to establish a Register's office in the city of New York. 

An act to set apart certain apartments in the Capitol for public purposes. 

An act for the benefit of the Orphan Asylum. 

An act to prevent abuses in actions de homine repligiando. 

An act to abolish the Court of Exchequer. 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. ££9 

An act to prevent Frauds at Elections. 
An act to incorporate the Humane Society. 

His opinion, while in the Court of Errors, established many 
of the most important principles of the Law Avhich now gov- 
ern the State, but they are too numerous to mention. 

Col. James McClaughrey. — This individual was of Irish 
origin — though, doubtless, the family was originally Scotcli. 
We are not informed when the first settler of this name came 
to this town. The individual of whom we speak was born 
in Philadelphia, and brought to this town when a small boy. 
His father died when James was young, and when his mother 
died, she requested on her death bed, that he be sent to his 
uncle, John McClaughry, at Little Britain, to be brought up. 
John, learning the request, proceeded to Philadelphia, and 
brought him home ;. the boy riding behind him on the same 
horse all that distance. This must have been as early, per- 
haps, as 1740 ; for we find his name on the records of the 
town, holding office between 1763 and 1770. 

He married Miss Caty Clinton, a sister of Governor Clin- 
ton, and resided on a farm in the vicinity of Robert R. Bur- 
nett, Esq. The old house is still standing, and the last time 
we passed it, it was tenanted by a family of color. 

At the commencement of hostilities he was apponted a 
Colonel of a militia regiment, and did duty in the Highlands. 
His regiment was a portion of the garrison of Fort Mont- 
gomery in October, 1777, when assaulted by the English. In 
a dispatch from Governor Clinton, dated the day after the 
Fort was taken, bespeaks thus of Col. McClaughrey : 

" We received intelligence that the enemy were advancing on the west 
side oi the mountain, with design to attack us in the rear. Upon this ] or- 
dered out Cols. Bruyn and McClaughrey, with upwards of 1 00 men, towards 
Doodietown, and a brass field piece, with a detachment of 60 men, on every 
advantageous post on the road to the Furnace. They were not long out be- 
fore they were both attacked by the enemy with their whole force ; out peo- 
ple behaved with spirit, and must have made great slaughter of the enemy." 

One of the 100 men here spoken of, was James Humphrey 
of Little Britain, a member of McClaughrey's regiment, and 
a brother-in-law of the Colonel, who, while retreating before 
the enemy, and clambering up and down the precipitous sides 
of the mountain, lost his gun, b) r slipping through his hand. 
In his emergency he informed the Colonel of his loss, and 
asked him what he should do ; who replied in tones of thun- 
der, " Hurl stones upon the d — d Tories." 

At the reduction of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, Col. 
McClaughrey was taken prisoner, carried to the city of New 



634 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

York, and put in the hospital, where his personal comfort 
was provided for in part by the kind attentions of his wife, 
as previously related. There was a Mrs. Johnston, the 
daughter of Mr. Dean, who owned Dean's wharf, who, in 
compassion for the sufferings and deprivations of the Ameri- 
can prisoners, had some large pockets made, which she filled 
with eatables and fed the prisoners. When the weather was 
cold and she could wear a cloak, she increased the number 
of her friendly sacks to four, and as commissary of the prison, 
conducted quite an extensive, though not very profitable 
business. Oh ! that we could inscribe her name on an un- 
dying tablet. 

The Colonel was in the lower story of the hospital, and 
Col. Allen, also a prisoner, was in the room above him, and 
the floor between them was old and full of wide cracks. — 
Some friend told the Colonel, that Burgoyne and his army 
were captured. He wrote it on a scrap of paper, and by 
means of a stick passed it up through the floor to Allen, who 
instantly proclaimed out of the window to the English offi- 
cers in the street, that " Burgoyne had marched to Boston 
to the ;une of Yankee Doodle." After this the prisoners 
were treated more humanely. For this and other offences, 
we believe, Allen was sent in chains to England. 

At the end of the war, Col. McClaughrey returned to his 
farm in Little Britain, where he lived most respectably sur- 
rounded by his friends and compatriots in arms. He was a 
true patriot, a lover of human freedom and*a warm-hearted 
friend. The contents of his will — an extract of which we 
have placed before the reader, are, in part, proof of this remark. 
He bore a most cordial dislike to tyranny and oppression of 
every kind, and was ready on all occasions to battle against 
them. He was fearless and of indomitable courage, self- 
willed and passionate — a kind of Mad Anthony Wayne in 
miniature. He died in 1790, aged 67, having had no issue. 
His widow lived many years after his death, and died in the 
\ ilia are of Newburgh, where she resided. 

Mathew Dubois. — This gentleman was a Huguenot, and 
a descendent of those early emigrants in Ulster county. He 
lived neighbor to Robert Burnet, Esq. and Gen. James Clin- 
ton. During the war he was an assistant commissary. At 
the commencement of the war he sailed a sloop from New 
Windsor, and having to go to Boston on business in 1777, 
when the English were expected to pass up the river, he 
bored holes in the bottom of the sloop, as she laid at the dock, 
which he showed to his family, and on leaving directed them 



TOWN OF NEW- WINDSOR. *>oO 

to sink the vessel in case of necessity. The English came 
while Dubois was absent, and the sloop was sunk according 
to order. He died in 1799, aged 75 years. 

His son David, was a Lieutenant in the army went to 
Quebec under Gen. Montgomery and stood by his side when 
he was shot down. David returned home with a constitu- 
tion ruined bv the fatigue and hardship of the campaign, and 

^etano^r son, was also in the army, and foughtun 
derGcn. McDugal at the battle of Monmouth. 1 he Gen. 
ws a Scotchman, and took snuri;which he carried loosely in 
his vest pocket in order to have it handy. We knew a 
Scotch clergyman who had his vest pocket made ot leather, 
to use as a snuffbox. „,, . ■ 

Associate Reformed Church of Little Britain.- Ihi> 
was organized in the year 1760, and the congregation prin- 
"pallv composed of Scotch and Irish emigrants. I he record 
Proceedings of this church are few and very imperfect, inso- 
much that it is impossible at this day to glean from them any 
thin* more than a mere outline of its early historj . 

The first meeting house was erected in 1765, and rebuilt 
on the same site in 1826. Their first pastor was the Rev. 
Robert Annan, and more particularly mentioned m our pa- 
ner He was installed in 1768. - 

Mathew McDowell, Patrick McClaughrey and Joh# 
Watiffh, were the first Elders. - 

The second pastor was Thomas J. Smith, installed May 1 , 

' 'The third was the Rev. .lames Scrimgeour,a native of Scot- 
land and installed Jan. 24, IS! -J. . 

Between the settlements of Mr. Smith and Scrimgeour 
there *L an interval of several years, during which the 

u ch was vacant. Tins latter gentleman was well edncat- 
, and Ins style of rhetoric, formed on the rules of professo, 
Blair"chaste, flowing and elegant, and almost wholly desti- 
ne of ornament and figure. There was just enough o 
Scotch dialect in his pronunciation to make it pleasant ami 
agreeable. Though he used no notes while preaching, he 
never Altered in idea nor miscalled a word, and the service 
wasa pure, ceaseless, flowing stream of gospel sen tuner, t - 
He died in Feb. 1825, and was succeed ed by I he. Rev. R oh 
H. Wallace, who was installed on the 6th of Oct., 1825, and 
still remains the pastor of the church. 

We regret our inability to give a more extended not.ee of 
this ancient church establishment. 



636 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

Rev. Robert Annan. — This individual is regarded as one 
of the fathers of the Associate Reformed Church, for he was 
contemporary with the union, and active in confirming and 
promoting its interest. He was born in Fifeshire, in about 
1741-2. After graduation, he began the study of Theology, 
under the direction of Alexander Moncrief of Abernith, the 
first Psofessor of Divinity to the Anti-burgher branch of the 
Secession. Messrs. John Mason, James and William Proud- 
fit were among his fellow students. He was licensed by the 
Associate Presbytery of Perth, when about twenty years of 
age, and was soon appointed a missionary to the American 
Colonies. He arrived in New York in 1761. In 1765 the 
Neelytown congregation was formed, and in that year lie 
became their first pastor. At that time he was a member of 
the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. 

The Associate Reformed Church of Little Britain was or- 
ganized in 1760, their church built in 1765, and in 1768 
they called Mr. Annan, who was installed pastor of that con- 
gregation in connection with the Neelytown church. Dur- 
ing the time of his pastoral connections with these churches, 
he preached to the people who afterwards composed the con- 
gregation of Graham's church in the town of Crawford, and 
also to the people of Bloomingburgh, in Sullivan county : 
but at the time there was no organized congregation at either 
&f the places last named. 

The war of the Revolution took place during his connec- 
lion with these churches, and being an ardent whig, a man 
of talent and a little impulsive in the temperament of his 
mind, he not only took a deep interest in the progress of the 
war, as an individual, but not unfrequently introduced po- 
litical subjects into his public discourses. We have often 
heard an aged hearer of Mr. Annan say that " he was a cap- 
ital preacher and a capital whig." 

The following incident shows the liberal principles he then 
entertained, and the influence he was capable of exercising. 

" In the fall of 1775, the people of Boston, by reason of 
the great scarcity of supplies and provisions, applied to our 
State for aid, and accordingly a public meeting was called 
and convened in the town of Hanover (now Montgomery.) 
In the meantime, the friends of the mother country, always 
on the alert, had procured the services of a talented orator, 
for the purpose of defeating the objects of the meeting. As 
no one could be found among the adherents of the cause of 
liberty who was able to speak in public, recourse was had to 
Mr. Annan, who at first declined, but at length consented. — 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 637 

A multitude were assembled on the occasion, to hear a dis- 
cussion upon a subject which was then the absorbing topic of 
the day. The discussion was conducted for some time Avith 
fairness and ability on either side, until at length, to check 
the strife of angry words, and to test the disposition of the 
assembly,- Mr. Annan suddenly said, ' as many as are in fa- 
vor of assisting the people of Boston and the cause of liberty, 
follow me.' The effect was electric ; immediately upon his 
leaving the house he beheld, to his utter astonishment, the 
whole multitude at his heels." 

We cannot enter at large into the biography of this gen- 
tleman, except so far only, as to show his connection with 
the several ch«rches,over which he exercised his pastoral care 
in the early and fearless dissemination of evangelical truth. 
In about 1783, Mr. Annan being discontented in his pastoral 
relations, received a call from a congregation in Boston, 
which he accepted ; and his hearers interposing no impedi- 
ments on their part, he left them, after a connection with 
some of them of about 18 years. 

Mr. Annan remained but a few years in Boston, when up- 
on a decline of Presbyterianism in his church, and a conse- 
quent increase of independency, with some disagreement 
about the Psalter used, and the mode of singing practiced in 
the church of Scotland, he removed in 1786 to Philadelphia, 
under a call frem the Old Scots church, now known as Spruce 
Street church. This congregation being engaged in a law 
suit to defend the church property, which was sought to be 
recovered from them by a seceding portion of the congrega- 
tion, under the leading influence of Mr. Marshall, their for- 
mer pastor. Mr. Annan left them in 1801-2, and removed 
to Baltimore, to take charge of a young congregation there 
just formed. There he remained till 1812, and was succeed- 
ed by the Rev. Dr, John Duncan, of great notoriety, on the 
subject of creeds and confessions. Mr. Annan died in 1818, 
from an injury received from being thrown from his carriage. 

This gentleman is held in grateful remembrance in the 
congregations of the county to which he preached, and re- 
garded as a pious, zealous, devoted and eloquent divine. 

We have seen the rock on the side of a hill, burried in the 
forest, on the parsonage farm at Graham's church, where 
this ardent and eloquent missionary of the cross, then in the 
strength of his manhood, in imitation of his master while on 
earth, spoke the words of truth and soberness inhuming and 
melting strains to the enraptured multitude that flocked to 
hear him. These spots are fresh and green in the recollec- 



638 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOB. 

lion of the aged inhabitants, and surrounded by a sacred halo 
still seen and revered by their descendents. Happy that 
people who can take pleasure in the remembrance of such 
incidents. 

We have extracted this article from a memoir of Mr. An- 
nan in the Christian Instructor of 1844. 

Rev James Scrimgeour. — The following Obituary we copy from the 
Index of Feb. 15, 1825. 

Departed this life, on Friday morning, the 4th of Feb., Rev. James 
Scrimgeour, minister of the gospel at Little Britain, in the 68th year of his 
age. He studied theology under the direction of John Brown, of Hadding- 
ton, and was settled as pastor of a congregation in the Burgher connexion, 
at Berwick, upon Tweed. He was one of the ministers that came to thi> 
country with Dr. Mason, at the instance of the Associate Reformed Synod 
in the year 1802. In August, 1803, he accepted a call from the Associate 
Reformed congregation at Newburgh, and was for some years pastor of that 
congregation. The last 12 years of his ministry and of his life, were spent 
ai Little Britain, having been called by that congregation, and installed in 
his charge, the 24th of Jan., 1812. As a man, he was frank, sincere and 
friendly — as a son. a husband and a lather, faithful and affectionate — 
Christian, an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile — and as a preach- 
er of the gospel, as thousands both in Scotland and America who have been 
long edified and delighted with his ministrations can witness, simple 
— 

" In doctrine uncorrupt, in language plain, 

And plain in manner ; decent, solemn, chaste 

And natural in gesture ; much impressed 

Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 

And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 

May feel it too. Affectionate in look, 

And tender in address, as well becomes 

A messenger of grace to guilty men." 

The theme on which he most delighted to dwell was the person and work 
i : the Redeemer, exemplifying the apostolic determination, to know nothing 
among his people but Jesus Christ and him crucified. He died in the : 
of that gospel which he preached, and left to his friends, who bless hie 
his memory, the cheering hope, that whenChrist who is his life shall apj. 
then shall he also appear with him in glory. 

New-Windsor Church. — " On the 14th of September, 
1764, a meeting was held at New Windsor, and Elders were 
elected preparatory to the organization of a Church. 

"The Church was on the 5th of May, 1766, by Rev. Tim- 
othy Johnes, a committee of the Presbytery of New York. 

" In October, 1767, Rev. Francis Peppard took charge of 
the congregation in connection with that of Bethlehem, and 
continued his labors till 1771. During this period a few were 
anded to the Church. 

The congregation stood vacant- till 1773, when Rev. John 
Close co-mtnenced hj« labors, and continued as stated supph 






! 
TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 639 

until 1799. During the greater portion of this time his labors 
were divided between thiscongregation and that ofBethlehem. 
" During the latter part of this time the congregation was 
associated with that of Newburgh. 

In 1766 Mr. Close became the colleague of the Rev. Eben- 
ezer Prime, the father of the Rev. Nathaniel S. Prime, at 
Huntington, Long Island, and was dismissed in 1773, when 
lie came to this Church. When he left in 1796 he went to 
Waterford, where he died. 

" The time of his ministry embraced the period of the Revo- 
lutionary war. During, this time the church edifice was used 
as an hospital. Religion was at a very low ebb during the 
whole period. There were, however, a few added to I 
Church. 

" On the 5th of May, 1801, the Rev. Jonathan Freeman 
was installed pastor of this Church, in connection with that of 
Newburgh. In 1805 he was dismissed. Under his ministry 
there was some special attention to religion, and about twenty 
were added to the Church. 

" On the 20th of November, 1805, Rev. Eleazer Burnet 
was ordained and installed pastor of the associated congrega- 
tions of New Windsor and Newburgh. The Church enjoyed 
his labors but a short period. He was suddenly removed b> 
death while on a visit to New Jersey. 

" On the 5th of August,. 1807, Rev. John Johnston was or- 
dained and installed pastor of the associated congregations oj 
New Windsor and Newburgh. In 1810 the pastoral relation 
between this Church and Rev. Mr. Johnson was dissolved. 
During his labors several were added to the Church. 

"After that time the Church only enjoyed the occasional 
labors of the gospel ministry until the 1st of May, 182?, 
when Rev. James H. Thomas commenced his labors with 
this Church in connection with that of Canterbury- He w; - 
installed pastor of both Churches on the 12th of February, 
1828, by the Presbytery of North River. On the 14th of 
February, 1828, the new Church edifice was dedicated. 

" On the 1st of May, 1834,. the pastoral relation between 
Rev. J. H. Thomas and the Church of Canterbury was dis- 
solved, and his labors were confined exclusively to this con- 
gregation till the 1st of June,. 1835, when the pastoral relation 
with this people was dissolved. During his ministry about 
100 members were added. 

" On the 5th of August, 1835, Rev. James Sherwood was 
ordained and installed pastor. His labors were continued 
until April, 1840. 






*H0 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

Since then the pulpit has been supplied — first, by Rev. N. 
S. Prime — secondly, by the Rev. Henry Belden — thirdly, by 
Rev. Isaac C. Beach — and fourthly, by Rev, James Bruyn, 
the present pastor. 

"In February and March 1S41, the Church enjoyed a 
gracious outpouring of the Spirit, when 28 members were ad- 
ded, on a profession of their faith. 

"The first ruling elders were : Joseph Wood, William 
Lowrence, Samuel Brewster, and Henry Smith. 

" The present Elders are : Silas Corwin, Samuel B. 
Moores, Ebenezer Colby and Daniel Moores." 

New-Windsor. — The name is doubtless from Windsor, 
England, with "new" prefixed. Windsor Castle owes its ori- 
gin to William the conqueror, who erected at the place a 
fortified mansion as a hunting seat, and has been brought to 
its present state of splendor and magnificence by the labors 
and expense of many successive Sovereigns. It is situated 
on the declivity of a hill, on the crown of which the castle 
stands, and around the base of which the Thames, here a 
small stream, winds its way down towards London, some 20 
miles distant. The name is from the Saxon "Yendan," to 
wind like a thread, or move round in a circle. In Latin it 
is called "Vindelisora," or "Vindesorium." 

The Square. — A small district of country about four miles 
west of the village of New Windsor, and so called from the 
fact that the public roads surround it on four sides. 

The true name of the place is "Washington Square." — 
During the Revolution, and when head quarters was at the 
old Hasbrouck house, a part of the troops were stationed at 
Snake Hill, and at the place in question, and the portion of 
the army quartered there named It "Washington Square," 
in honor of their commander. 

It will be recollected that after Fort Montgomery was ta- 
ken, Gov. Clinton established his head quarters at the 
Square, at the house of Mrs. Falls, to collect his scattered 
troops before marching to Esopus. The Mrs. Falls mention- 
ed in his dispatches of that date, was the widow of Mr. Alex. 
Falls, the father of Mr. Alex. Falls of Newburgh. Mr. Falls 
lived wheie Daniel Moore, Esq., now resides. The family 
is old in the town, and the name found on its records at its 
organization in 1763. Mr. Falls came to a sudden and un- 
expected death in this way : — He had just erected a saw mill 
on the stream near his house, and on the morning after being 
finished, as tl was supposed, he went down to the mill intend- 



TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 641 

ing to see how it would operate, and hoisted the gate, when 
from a want of proper care, or from inexperience in such a 
matter, the pitman came down and struck him on the head. 
He did not come in to breakfast at the usual time, and a 
member of the family was sent out to find and call him in. 
He was found dead in the race-way, and injured on the top 
of his head, as if killed in the manner indicated. 

Vdtt's Gate — A small collection of houses on the New 
Windsor and Bloominggrove Turnpike, about four miles 
south-west from Newburgh, where there is a toll gate. It 
takes its name from Mr. Vail, the keeper of the gate. For- 
merly it was called Tooker's Gate ior the same reason. — 
Thus far a small circumstance gave and changed the name ; 
but when the village shall increase a little more, and the 
name become more extensively known through the county, 
it will require a public meeting of the citizens to change it. 

Buskirk's Mills — The true name is Van Buskirk's Mills, 
and is a small village on the Otter Kill, in the south west 
part of the town, where there is a bridge across the stream, 
and a Saw and Flour Mill. The place took its name from 
Mr. Van Buskirk, the owner of the mills. It was formerly 
called Smith's Mills, for a like reason, Judge Nathan Smith 
being the owner. It was also called Hunting grove. 

AGRICULTURAL- PREMIUMS. 

18-20. Ezra Palmer, best gelding, $12 00 

1822. Abraham B. Rapaljee, procured the greatest quantity of hay 

and grain without the use of ardent spirits, F15 00 

John Is'icoll exhibited a sample of cotton raised in the county 

nearly equal to Southern cotton. 

Formerly near the mouth of Murderer's creek, there was 
a saw mill, owned by Mr. Thorn — afterwards by Samuel 
Sacket, and still later by Van Buren. The site has been oc- 
cupied lately by a cotton factory, owned by Mr. Leonard 
Nicoll and brother, which, in September last, was destroyed 
by fire, since which it has not been rebuilt. 

July 1803. Samuel Bayard of New Windsor made 20 good substantial 
Hour barrels and dressed all the stuff from the rough in one day, from 4 o'- 
clock a. m. to 8 P M. 

Feb. 1824. A wild cat was killed on the farm of John Nrcoll, Esq., by 
William Monell. his farmer, with a pitch fork. This was the first animal 
oi the kind seen in the town in forty years. Tt had been killing sheep and 
was tracked by Mr. Monell a short distance, when he found it beside a 
stone wall. He hit it a blow with his fork and the animal sprang upon the 
tence with a horrid yell. Monell more frightened than the cat, screamed 
out mast lustily, and/plied his fork so well that in a few moments he laid 

ao 



642 TOWN OF NEW-WINDSOR. 

the enemy low.and bore it off in triumph as evidence of his fright and valor. 

1316. Died, John Gray in falling a tree was accidentally hit by a limb 
which fractured his skull. He lingered three or four days when he died, 
leaving a widow and one child., 

Feb. 1826. About 3 o'clock in the morning the house of William Kerno- 
ghan was discovered by the family to be on fire, and consumed in a shor t 
time with all its furniture. What made the calamity more dreadful, was 
Mrs. Kernoghan, the mother of the owner, was burned up, except some of 

t he extremities. Loss $3,500 



TO THE READER. 

We have now completed our review of the county, and 
with doubt and hesitation submit it to public inspection ; a- 
ware of its imperfections, if not inaccuracies. We can real- 
ly asure you we have aimed at truth and accuracy, but 
doubtless have come short of both, in some instances. We 
ardently hope, that it may be deemed satisfactory, as it is the 
first instance in the State, where the History of a County has 
been written. It could not have been reasonably expected 
by you, that we could surround our paper with that interest, 
variety and richness of material, which you would have a 
right to claim, at the hands of one, who was privileged to 
roam over the bosom of the State and gather up his materials 
from a field, so wide and bountiful. Our path was compara- 
tively confined and circumscribed to narrow limits, previous- 
ly untrod by the historic traveller, and where scarcely a foot 
print was seen by us, throughout the lonely way. The frag- 
ments found, perhaps not of the most ancient and interesting 
character, we have placed before you, dressed in a plain and 
popular garb. Though there should be but little found in 
our pages to instruct the reader and compensate for the trou- 
ble of perusing them, yet we are confident, that there is not 
one line which a lady may not read. Though we have en- 
deavored to make it a readable paper, where old and young, 
the serious and the gay, might find something to instruct 
and amuse, yet we have throughout studiously avoided ca- 
tering to a vitiated taste. 

We are pleased to say, that there is an increasing and vir- 
tuous taste for historic writing rapidly growing up in the 
community at this day, which we are persuaded is ominous 
of future good to the rising generation; and that the day is 
not far distant, when the history of every old county in the 
State will be written, with all those local particulars, which 
cluster around them, and which are so well calculated to im- 
part a pleasure and gratification as yet generally unexperi- 
enced by the American reader. To forward and hasten on 
such desirable result, we submit our humble effort, in the 
expectation of soon seeing it followed by one, if not by many, 
of the same character, but of far superior execution. To us, 
the task, though pleasant and inetructive, has been laborious. 



64 t TO THE READER. 

In conclusion, we ask a careful perusal of our paper, lor 
i must all be read, as no one part is connected with, or de- 
pendent upon another. In doing which, the reader will 
please to note carefully all our errors of time, place, and per- 
son ; and if he be in possession of any interesting facts relating 
to early settlements, by whom and when made; or of Indian 
traditions, revolutionary incidents, family records, or any 
either facts worthy a place in the history of the county, we 
would esteem it a personal favor, if he would communicate 
them to the writer. We wish to make our paper as perfect 
arid comprehensive as possible, in these and in other respects, 
and we. pray the public favor to enable us to make it so. 
The typographical errors relating to dates and names of 
. etc., will be found in a table affive<l to the volume. 



APPENDIX. 



Judges of Orange Common Pleas from 1702 to this time 



1702, 


William Merrit 


1810, Jonathan Cooley 




John Merrit, ap- 


1811, William Bodle 


pointed by Queen Ann, 


1812, Isaac Belknap jr. 


March 8, 1702. 


1814, William A. Clark - 


1727, 


Cornelius Harring 


Geo. D. Wickham 




John McEvers 


Francis Crawford 


1733, 


Vincent Mathews 


1815, John Blake jr. 


1735, 


James Jackson 


Sam'l S. Seward Is 


1738, 


Rum Ramson 


Joseph Morrell 


1740, 


Abraham Harring 


Alexander Ross 




Cornelius Cuyper 


1818, Stephen Jackson 




Thomas Gale 


1821, Wm. Thompson 


1749, 


Daniel Denton 


Daniel Tooker 


175.0, 


Michael Jackson 


1823, Solomon Sleight 


1763, 


Benjamin Tusten 


David M. Wet* 


1764, 


John Coe 


1824, John Haliockjr. 


1770, 


John Pen y 


1826, Isaac Jennings 


1778, 


John Harring 1st 


1S28, Gilbert O. Fowler 




Elihu Marvin 


1830, JohnB. Booth 




Thomas Cuyper 


1831, Nath. P. Hill 




John Wheeler 


1832, II. W. Elliott l- 


1782, 


William Ellison 


1833, Nathaniel Jones 


1788, 


Wm. Thompson 1st 


1834, Robert Dennistou - 




Jeremiah Clark — ■ 


Hulet Clarke 


1789, 


John Suffern 


<i, James G. Clinton 


1792, 


William Wickham 


1838, Miles Hug- 




John Steward 


1840, Joseph R. Andrews 


1798, 


Moses Phillips 


S. W. Fullerton 


1802, 


George Gardner 


1841, G. Denniston 1st 


1807, 


John Barber 


James D. Bull 


1807, 


Nath. 11. White 1st 


1843, Gideon W. Cock 


1808, 


Andrew Graham 


1844, Frederick A. Hoyl 




Anthony Davis 


1845, John Sutton 




Daniel Birdsall 


Joseph Slaughter 


1809, 


James Finch jr. 


1846, A. M. Sherman 1st 


1810, 


, John Bradner 


1847, David W. Bat- 




R. Armstrong 


- 




List of 


Surrogates. 


1778, 


Benjamin Tusten jr. 


1827, Daniel H. Tuthii 


'87, 


James Everett 


'31, JohnB. Booth 


'90, 


do do 


'40, George M ( 


1815, 


Edward Ely 


'44, Charles Borland 


>0O 


Wheeler Case 


'47, Benjamin F. Duryea 






646 



APPENDIX. 



List of Sheriffs. 

1702, John Perry 1809, 

'06, Jeremiah CanifT '10, 

'37, Michael Dunning '11, 

"39, Theodorus Snedaker '13, 

'47, Joseph Sackett jr '15, 

'57, Jonathan Lawrence - " '19, 

V78, Isaac Nicoll '21, 

>81, William W. Thompson '23, 

"85, Hezekiah Howell '26, 

'89, Thomas Waters '29, 

'90, Benjamin Jackson '32, 

'92, Thomas Waters "35, 

'94, Benjamin Jackson '38, 

'97, Thomas Waters '41, 

1801, John Blake jr. '44, 

'05, William A. Clark '47, 



Benjamin Strong 
John G. Hurtin 
Benjamin Strong - 
Benjamin Sears 
Thos. S. Lockwood 
Moses P Burnett 
Nathaniel M. Hill 
Amzi L. Ball 
Stacey Beakes 
Joshua Conger 
James Hulse 
Charles Nive 
Edward L. Welling 
David Sease 
Adam H. Sinsabaugh 
Edward L. Welling 



List of County Clerks. 



1702, Derick Storm 

William Huddleston 
'21, Gerhardus Clowes 

Thomas Pullen 
'26, Vincent Mathews, contin- 
ued to 1763 
'63, David Mathews 
78, Thomas Moffatt to 1794 
I, Reuben Hopkins to 1813 
1813, Henry G. Wisner 



1815, David M. Westcott 
'19, James W. Wilkin 
'21, David M. Westcott 
'23, Asa Dunning to 183o 
-"35, Lebbeus L. Vail 
'38, Albert S. Benton 
'41, Lebbeus L. Vail 
"44, John C. Wallace 
"47, Albert S. Benton 



Attorney's Karnes. 



: . Mr. Wileman 1 
Gerhardus Clowes 
John Blagg 
28, Mr. Morns 
' Costearin 
'29, ' Semour 
'32, • Smith 
' Lodge 
'34, ' Alsop 

• Johnson 
'35, ' Chambers 
'37, William Livingston 
John Allison 
Mr. Crook 
'39, ' Moory 

' Line 
'41, Vincent Mathews 

Mr. Kelly 
'42, ' Rosevelt 
)■'>. • Green 
Henrv Case 



746, 


Mr. Low 1 


764, 


Samuel Jones 


•47. 


' Burnett 


"67, 


Mr. Brown 


'50, 


' Emot 




George Clinton 


'52, 


' Crumell 


•liS, 


John Morin Scott 




' Moore 




Mr. Kissam 




John McEvers 


■70. 


James Sayre • 


•53, 


Fletcher Mathew 




Thomas Smith 




Mr. Colden 




Mr. Reade 




• Van Cortland 




' Harrison 


'55, 


' Hicks 


7i, 


« Jay 


'56, 


' Duain 


'70 


' Crimshaw 


'57, 


William Mount 




' Linn 


'59, 


Mr. Silvester 


'73: A 




William Wickham 




Mr. Van Schuack 




D. Snedeker 




' De Lancev 


'60, 


David Mathews 




John W. Smith 


'63, 


Mr. Woods 




Robert Morris 




' Helms 




Balthazar De Harl 




■ Riker 


'85, 


Amaziah Rust 




Richard Snedeker 


'89, 


Robert Campbell 




Richard Morris 




John Addison 



APPENDIX. 



647 



1808, 



'91, 






•93, 



'94, 



'10, 



'11, 



■1'J. 



1 790, James Everett 

James W. Wilkin 

Phineas Bowman 

R. Hopkins 

Samuel Boyd 

Vincent Mathews 

Col. Ed. Elmendorf 

Thomas Cooper 

Oliver L. Ker 

Nicholas Evertson, 

Caleb S. Riggs 

Daniel Thew 

Abram M.Walton 

S. Sleight 

John Wickham 

George Clinton, jr. 

Benj. Smith, jr. 

Abraham L. Smith, 
1800, Jonathan Fisk 
[From court minutes. 

no roll to be found 

till 1825.] 

Stephen Jackson 

Mr. Lyon 

C. F. Smith 

James S. Smith, 

Jonas Story exam'd '14, 
with Isaac Hamil- 
ton, and after he 
arrives to 21 years 
of age. 

William Ross 

Samuel Smith 

Robert W T ood 
Henrv G. Wisner 
John' W.Smith 
Wm. W. Bogardus 
William W. Brooks 
Walter Case 
Wm. A. Depuyster 
T. Thompson, 
.Tabez D. Hammond 
Charles Baker 
David Mason 
John Duer 
Joseph I. Jackson 



Jes6e Brush 
Enoch E. Tilton 
Jonathan Cooley 
09, Hezekiah Belknap 
Rudolf Bunner 
George Wilson 
Austin, 



"0 



02, 
'03, 



•04, 



"05, 



Samuel R. Betts 
David Ruggles 
Beverly Kain 
Aaron Belknap 
David W. Bate 
Joseph H. Jackson 
Joseph Chattle 
John An till 
Edward Suflern 
John Niefie 
John T. Smith 
— —Bacon 

(Tilton & Bacon 
Charles White, jr. 
Philo T. Ruggles 
Thomas Swezey 
13, Samuel W. Eager • 
Wm. Wood Sackett 
Daniel M. Frye 
P. F. Hunn 
Charles Borland, jr. 
Edw. Huntington 
Mr. Welles 
Roger Crary 
'15, Charles Monell, 
'15, Wheeler Case 

Charles Humphrey 
Lemuel Jenkins 
L. W. Ruggles 
Leonard Mason 
Charles H. Ruggles 
John B. Booth, 
Alex. T. Bodle 
James C. Cooke 
Alexander Duer 
George F. Talman 



1822, John W. Brown 

'23, Daniel H. Tuthill 
Isaac R. Vanduzer 

'24, Theodore S. Fisk 
James D. Bull 
Frederick S. Betts 
J. W. Knevels 

'25, Agricola Wilkin 
Philip Millspaugh 
Abraham Crist 
E. C. Sutherland 
James W. Oppie 
B. H. Mace 

'26, James G. Clinton 
Wm. C. Hasbrouck 
Geo. M. Grier 

'27, Alsop Woodward 
Coe G. Bradner 

'28, John E. Phillips 

'30, Wm. F. Sharp 
A. C. Mulliner 
J,V. Whelan 
Wm. J. Street 
Henry E. Strong 

'31, Wm. B. Wright 
Nathan Westcott 
Charles Mason 

'33, Alfred D. Walden 
Horace Armstrong 

'35, Grant B. Udell 

Elisha Bnrchard 
•27, G.W. Lord 
John J. Monell 
(ieo. Vanlnwc; 

Niven 



'16, 



'35, 
'39, 



George W r . 



17, 



Samuel J. Wilkin 
Samuel G. Hopkins 
Nathan Stark 
Benjamin Anderson '18, Thos. McKissock.jr '41 



'07, Edward Ely- 
Livingston Billings 
Benjamin T Case 
Herman Ruggles 
Edward N. James 
Charles Lindsey 

'08, John Nitchie, jr. 



G. O. Fowler 
A, Dimmick 
A. S. Benton 
James Dill 

* * # 

Ogden Hoffman 
'22, Gabriel W. Ludlum 



Nathan Reeve 
Benj. F. Duryea 
Asa D. Janseri 
Chris. Van Duzfer 
40 Aaron B. Belknap 
Daniel B. Boice 
Samuel B. Bell 
Joseph W. (iott 
William Fullerton 
John L. Bookstnv* 
C. F. Belknap 
John C. Dimmirk 
Alexander Wilkin 
John S. Thayer 
Stephen B. Brophy 
JohnG. Wilkin 
Robert S. Hals-lead 
Robert Proudfit, jr. 



'42, 



•43 



648 APPENDIX. 

1843, James W Fowler 1845, James G. Graham 1846, James Stryker 

Benj. F. Dunning Daniel F. Gidney Dewitt C. Cooley 

'44, S. VV. Fullerton, jr. Wm. R. Nelson John Lyon 

James L. Stewart Levinus Monsen S. Howell Strong 

'45, D. Fullerton. (atty) Andrew J. Wilkin Moses Swezey 

Oliver Young '46, Gabriel N. Swezey Charles H. Winfielc! 

Hugh H. Bull 



MEDICAL SOCIETY OF ORANGE COUNTY. 

Agreeably to a law of the State of New York, passed the 
4tli day of April, 1806, entitled " An act to incorporate 
Medical Societies for the purpose of regulating the practice 
of Physic and Surgery in the State," the physicians and 
surgeons of Orange County met at the court house in Goshen. 
on Tuesday, the first day of July, 1806. 
Dr. Jonathan Swezey, Chairman. 
Dr. Thomas Wickham, Clerk. 

Doctors Jonathan Swezy, Thomas Wickham, Elijah Ran- 
dall, William Elmer, William Elliot, Samuel S. Seward, 
Benjamin S. Hoyt, Nathaniel Elmer, Elisha Du Bois, C 
Fowler, David R. Arnell, Samuel Warner, William Mc- 
Copper, Aaron M. Smith, William Goorley, Eleazer Gidney, 
Elihu Hedges, Ethan Watson, Cornelius Roosa, Jame;; 
Bradner, Henry I. Hornbeck and Elijah Welch were present 
and produced their licenses to practise physic and surgery 
according to law. 

The Society then proceeded to organize themselves, and 
elect their officers, when the following gentlemen were elected 
for the ensuing year, viz : 

Dr. Jonathan Swezey, President. ; 
Dr. Samuel S. Seward, Vice President ; 
Dr. Nathaniel Elmer, Secretary ; 
Dr. Thomas Wickham, Treasurer. 

Doctors Anthony Davis, Elisha Du Bois, Charles Fowler, 
Joseph Whelan and Cornelius Roosa were appointed Censors. 
Dr. David R. Arnell was elected member of the State Med 
ical Society. 

At the meeting February 24, 1807, Dr. David R. Arnell 
was requested to give such information to this Society of the 
Medical Society of the State, as he thought proper. Where- 
upon the Doctor delivered the By-Laws and proceedings of 
said Society, together with an appropriate address, to be 
recorded. . 



APPENDIX. 



U4U 



List of all Members of the Medical Society from the foundation 

of the Institution . 



Anthony Davis* 
Jonathan Swezey* 
Thomas Wickham* 
Samuel Warner 
Nathaniel Elmer* 
Joseph Whelan* 
Heman Allen 
David R. Amell* 
David Galatian* 
Cornelins Roosa 
Samuel S. Seward 
Nathaniel Gillispie* 
Hlihu Hedges* 
William Gourley* 
Silvester Austin* 
Benjamin Newkirk 
Gabriel N Phillips 
Elijah Welch* 
Jonathan Hedges* 
Wm McCoppins* 
Elijah Randol* 
Aaron M Smith* 
James Bradner* 
Joseph R Andrews 
Silas Lorn is 
Henry I Hornbeck 
Benjamin S Hoyt 
Jesse Jrnell* 
Wta Elmer* 
Balfus L Van Kloeck* 
Wm Elliot* 
Joseph Houston* 
David Fowler* 
Charles Parks* 
John Gasharie* 
U'illiam Townsend 
Francis Fowler* 
John T Jansen, jr. 
Joshua Hornbeck 
Samuel Harlow 
IV C Terry 
A Cook 

Henry C Seeley 
Bushrod Millspaugh 
J D Bevier 
J PFOstrom 
Wm M Johnston 
Harvey Everett 



David Hanford 
Peter A Millspdugh 
Thomas G Evans* 
John L Swezey 
James Youngs* 
Marcus Ostrander* 
James Heron 
Robert C Hunter* 
Peter P Galatian 
George Eager 
Israel Green 
John W Montross* 
Increase Crosby* 
1 1 K Chapman* 
Charles Miller* 
Peter McGivney 
John I-FDrury 
Stephen Hasbrouck 
George Hedges* 
Charles Winfield 
James M Gai diner 
Townsend Seely 
F S Beattie 
John S Crane 
John McGaugh 
Wm Horton, jun.* 
E Jansen* 
Robert Shaw 
Wm II Newkirk* 
Joseph Halsteed 
Nathaniel J Chu: 
George Hunter 
Iscac D Dodd 
John 1 TFheeler 
Merritt II Cash 
Andrew King 
Harris Edmonston 
Charles Hardenburgh 
James C Fitch 
S IFEsray 
James A Young 

C Blackman 
DC.Winheld 
Philander Mix 
4lpheus Goodman 
>4sahel Houghton 
Thomas Millspaugh 
Samuel C Smith 



Lewis Dunning 
John B McMunn 
Jacob IFarner 
James M Smith 
Charles S Gidnev 
G M Millspaugh 
M N Brewster 
John Conklin 
Charles G Fowlei* 
II P Burnham* 
John P Tarbell 
.•ilexander Cliuton 
John M Pruyn 
Thomas S Edmo? 
Marcus Sears 
Garnest M Roe 
Henry Horton 
James Van Keuren 
Jerome Hells 
James S Horton 
William Morrison 
Philip S Timlow 
Bartow B 'right 
John W Fenton 
Charles B Howell 
Harvey Hallock 
Henry W Hornbeck 
Edward II S Ho! 
Elias Peck 
Wm Murphy 
Samuel B Barlow 
George Brown 
Samuel D llollev 
Dewitt C Hallock 
John JFRaftem 
A W Millspaugh 
Leander W Lynn 
Ethan B Carpenter 
Samuel M Craw: 
Lewis Armstrong 
Nathaniel Deyo 
Peter E Conklin 
John yltterson 
Henry L Burrett 
Abraham W Go well 
S G Carpenter 
Thomas W Newman 
Alfred II Lee 



"Dead 



650 APPENDIX. 

ORANGE COUNTV BIBLE SOCIETY. 

This Institution was formed in 1811, and organized as a 
Bible and Tract Society, which it remained to be, till 1816, 
when it ceased its Tract operations. 
The first officers were : 

Rev. Andrew King, President 

" Moses Froeligh, 1st Vice President 

" Methuselah Baldwin, 2d do do 
u John Johnston, Secretary 

" Arthur J. Stansbury, Clerk 
Dr. Charles Fowler, Treasurer 

And 19 other managers. 

The Institution is auxiliary to the American Bible Society. 
The. constitution adopted in 1811 was amended in 1817 so 
as to conform with its auxiliary character. 
flic present officers arc : 

James Wood. President, 

sse Bull, 1st Vice President 

William Houston, 2d do do 

James D. Bull, Corresponding Secretary 

Theodore L. Jackson, Recording Secretary 

Dr. Peter A. Millspaugh, Treasurer. 

The following persons have been Presidents : 

v. Andrew King, James W. Wilkin, Esq. 

w ' Methuselah Baldwin, Mr. Andrew Wilson, 

hannes Miller, Esq. " Jonathan Bailey, 

Mr. Hezekiah Howell, " Samuel Millspaugh. 

" Moses Crawford, Dr. David Hanford. 

• ( William Phillips, •■ Charles Fowler. 
•' James Wood. 



l'ROV ISIONAL CONVENTION. 

Lu May, 1775, the 2d Continental Congress were to as- 
semble at Philadelphia, and the question of sending dele- 
gates to that body was agitated in the Assembly of N. York, 
aid on their refusal to send them, a Provisional Convention 
was called by the people for the purpose. 

The Convention met at the Exchange, in the city of New 
York, and appointed Philip Livingston, James Duane, John 
Alsop, John Jay, Simon Boerum, Wm. Floyd, Henry Wis- 
ner, Philip Schuyler, George Clinton, Lewis Morris, Francis 



APPENDIX 651 

Lewis and Robert R. Livingston, Esqrs., as delegates for the 
purpose. 

The Deputies of the Provisional Convention from Orange 
and Ulster counties assembled at the Exchange, in the city 
of New York, with Deputies from other counties, for the pur- 
pose of forming a Provincial Convention, April 20, 1775. 

The officers of the first Provincial Congress were: Peter 
Van Brugh Livingston, Esq., President ; Volkert P.Dow, 
Esq., V. President; John McKesson and Robert Benson, 
Secretaries ; and Thomas Pettit, Door Keeper. 

DEPUTIES TO THE FIRST CONVENTION: 

From Orange County — Col. A. Hawks Hay, Henry Wis- 
ner, Esq., John Haring Esq., Peter Clowes, Israel Seely, 
John Coe, David Pie, Michael Jackson, Benjamin Tftsten, 
Win. Allison, Jesse Woodhull, Jeremiah Clark, Mr. Cooper 
and Abraham Lent. 

From Ulster County. — Charles De Witt, George Clinton, 
Levi Pawling, Col. Johannis Hardenburgh, Col. James Clin- 
ton, Egbert Dumond Esq., Charles Clinton, Chiistopher 
Tappan, John Nicholson, Jacob Hornbeck, Thomas Palmer. 
Mathew Cantine, Mr. Wynkoop, Mr. Rhea and Mr. Lefever. 

The convention continued to meet till May 13th, 1777, 
when it was dissolved, and the Committee of Safety ordered 
to assemble next morning, which they did, and continued 
their sessions till January 7, 1778, when the Convention sal 
as a Senate and Assembly. 

Members of Senate. — Messrs. Ten Brock, Yates, Van 
Schaick, Wisner, Pawling, Landon, Webster, Parks, Scott. 

Members of Assembly. — Messrs. Harper, Kellian Van 
Rensselaer, Williams, Banker, Dunscomb, Snider, Gilbert 
Livingston, Jay, Drake, Benson, Morehouse, Speaker, Van 
Hon ten, Barns, Hoffman, Clarke, Schoonmaker, Kuyper. 

General Officers for the Colonies, appointed by Congress in 

June, 1775. 

George Washington, General and Commander in Chief; 
Artemas Ward, 1st Major General — Charles Lee, 2d do. — 
Philip Schuyler, 3d do. — Israel Putnam, 4th do. ; — Seth 
Pomcroy, 1st Brigadier General — Richard Montgomery, 2d 
do. — David Wooster, 3d do. — William Heath, 4th do. — Jos- 
eph Spencer, 5th do. — John Thomas, 6th do. — John Sulli- 
van, 7th do. — Nathaniel Green, 8th do. — and Horatio Gates 
Adjutant General. 



652 APPENDIX. 

UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. 

Members of the New York Convention for deliberating on 
the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, assem- 
bled at Poughkeepsie, June 17, 1788, from the counties of 
Ulster and Orange — George Clinton, Delegate from Ulster, 
President. 

From Ulster County — George Clinton, John Cantine, Cor. 
('. Schoonmaker, Ebenezer Clark, James Clinton, Derick 
Wynkoop. 

From Orange County — John Haring, Jesse Woodhull, 
Henry Wisner, John Wood. 

STATE CONSTITUTION. 

.Members from Ulster and Orange counties in the Conven- 
tion met at Kingston, Ulster county, April 20, 1777., to frame 
the Constitution of the State. 

From Ulster County — Chiistopher Tappen, Matthew Rea. 
Arthur Parks, Matthew Cantine, Charles De Witt, Le?i 
Pawling, Henry Wisner, Jr. 

From Orange County — William Allison, Henry Wisner, 
Jeremiah Clark, David Pye, Thomas Outwater, Isaac Sher- 
wood, Joshua H. Smith, John Haring, Mr. Little. 

Members of the Convention who framed the Constitution of 
State of New York in 1821, from Orange county were : — 
John Duer, John Hallock, jr., Peter Milliken and Benjamin 
Woodward. 

The members of the Convention from Orange county, who 
trained the State Constitution in 1846, were : — John W. 
Brown of Newburgh, George W. Tuthill of Bloom inggrove 
and Lewis Cuddeback of Deerpark. 

The citizens of Orange who have been, or acted as Gov- 
ernors of the State, were : 





GOVERNORS. 




Ca Iwallader C. Colden, 


Lieut. 


Governor 


from 1760 to 1702 


do do 




do 


1763 to 1765 


do do 




do 


1769 to 1770 


George Clinton, 




Governor. 


1777 to 1795 


do do 




do 


1801 to 1804 


itt Clinton, 




do 


1824 to 1828 


William H. Seward 




do 


1839 to 1843 





ERRATA 


.i 




age 18, line 


14, for 'Minisink,' 


read Wawayanda 


.. 47) ,. 


15, " 1703, 


ii 


1712. 


" 38, " 


39, " 1825. 


it 


1824. 


" 69, " 


20, " awarded, 


ii 


award. 


" 87, " 


11, " his, 


ii 


their. 


" 174, " 


7, " manufacturer, 


ii 


manufacture. 


" 207, " 


47, " buskin, 


ii 


buckskin. 


" 212, " 


17, " dismissing, 


ii 


demitting, 


" 215, " 


32, " Redminster, 


ii 


Bedminster, 


II QOO " 

-www , 


37, " sccool, 


•i 


school, 


11 223, " 


21, " Eleazer Young, 


it 


Eleazer Gidney. 


11 224, " 


11, " at this, 


ii 


at this time, 


ti It 41 


14, " sloop, 


ii 


ship, 


il it l| 


42, " Jason Rogers, 


ii 


Moses Rogers, 


- 237, " 


7, " 1820, 


ii 


1720, 


il II tl 


" •' 2.000, 


•i 


1,000, 


II if it 


15, " 1,000, 


ii 


2,000, 


ti it II 


24, " a contrary course, 


it 


such a course, 


" 249, " 


9, " Crist, 


ii 


Laurens Crist, 


ii li il 


28, " do 


a 


do 


it li (i 


26, " Hasbrouck'e gate, 


it 


Hornbrook's gate, 


» 264, " 


" " sides, 


i. 


banks, 


" 268, " 


15, " manufacturers, 


ii 


manufactures, 


ii it li 


41, " do 


•i 


manufactories 


.1 270, •• 


13, " set, 


ii 


sat, 


•• 302, " 


34, " John Davis. 


•« 


Joseph Houston, 


II ti II 


" " John Harlow, 


ii 


John Davie, 


" 305, " 


19, " application, 


ii 


occupation, 


•' 307, " 


23, " were, 


ii 


was, 


" 320, " 


34, •' promotive, 


ii 


exerted, 


" 336, " 


30, ■* and out, 


ii 


and was out, 


' 343, •• 


7, " associate, 


ii 


associate reformed, 


" 347, " 


29, " Mr. Phillips, 


ii 


Mai. Moses Phillips, 


" 448, " 


1, " "in Goshen, on tin 


i head waters of the Otterkill, 




[read — 


in Cornwall, near Gray co 


•' 361, " 


9, " country, 


it 


county, 


" 368, " 


18, " there. 


ii 


these, 


" 403, " 


25, " Dec. 2, 


» 


Dec. 1, 


" 412, " 


27, " Asa Dolsan, 


ii 


Isaac Dolsan, 


" 443, " 


9, " crosses nut. 


5» 


crops out, 


" 445, " 


20, " varied black, 


)) 


veined black, 


" 446, " 


18, " Daniel Horan, 


It 


Daniel Herran, 


" 461, " 


29, " they plunwed, 


)1 


and plunging, 


" 511, " 


7, " 1804, 


II 


1824, 


» 558, " 


32, " he 


)) 


I. 


" 619, » 


11, " 1720, 


II 


1729, 


" 620, " 


28, " and whom, 


>» 


•whose father Benjamin 


" 633, " 


3, " opinion, 


» 


opinions, 


" 637, '• 


31. " there, 


»» 


then, 



Kntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thocsaod 
eight hundred and forty-seven, by 

Samuel W. Eager, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the 
Southern District of New York 






LB !.. 



J 928 









hicLEThTTDDD 




SS3M9N03 JO AHVU8I1 



